India's top court cancels early release of Bilkis Bano rape convicts, calls the move 'abuse of power'

THE Supreme Court of India on Monday (8) scrapped the early release of 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano, a woman from the country's minority Muslim community, and murdering her family during the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat.

The convicts, who were released in August 2022, will have to surrender within two weeks.

In a landmark order on a decision that triggered a nationwide outrage, the apex court said the government of Gujarat was not competent to release the men.

"The exemption order lacks competence," it said, reprimanding the state government for passing such an order "without application of mind".

Read: India’s top court hears Bilkis Bano rape convicts release: ‘Not overwhelmed by emotions…’

Bilkis Bano (ANI Photo)

"The exercise of power by the state of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation of power and abuse of power," the court added.

Read: Woman judge at India’s top court, who was to hear Bilkis Bano challenging 2002 Gujarat riot rape-murder convicts’ release, opts out

Dwelling on the question of whether the convicts must return to jail in the context of their right to personal liberty, the Supreme Court said that allowing them to remain free would mean validating "invalid orders".

"The rule of law must be preserved unmindful of the ripples of the consequences," said the judges.

The convicts, who were convicted by a special court in January 2008, were released by the Gujarat government on the basis of a remission policy of 1992, which has been superseded by a law in 2014 that stops the release of convicts in cases that are related to capital offence.

The convicts were given a hero's welcome after their release, with garlands and sweets, and they were even seen sharing stage with a couple of lawmakers from Gujarat's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which is led by prime minister Narendra Modi. One of them had even started practising law, the top court was told during an 11-day hearing in 2023 of petitions challenging the release, including one by Bano.

Petitioners against the convicts' release included opposition politicians, independent journalists a former vice chancellor of an Indian university.

At the time of the riots, Bano was 21 and five months' pregnant. Se was gang-raped while fleeing during the communal riots. Seven of her family members were slaughtered at the time, including her three-year-old daughter.