In connection with Bilkis Bano gangrape case during the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit the original records related to the remission of sentence of 11 convicts by October 16.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan reserved its order on the pleas challenging the remission granted to the convicts after hearing submissions by Bilkis Bano's counsel and lawyers for the Centre, the Gujarat government and the PIL petitioners.
Besides the petition filed by Bilkis Bano, there are several other PILs as well which have contested against the remission granted to the 11 convicts by the Gujarat government.
The list of petitions include the ones by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission granted to the convicts and their premature release.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.
