Bilkis Bano Case: SC Rejects Convicts' Plea For More Time To Surrender; Deadline Ends Jan 21

The time to surrender by the convicts is expiring on January 21.

The Supreme Court, while dismissing the applications of convicts for an extension of time to surrender, said that the reasons cited by them to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit.

Three convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case mentioned a plea before the Supreme Court on Thursday, seeking an extension of time to surrender. The Supreme Court, while cancelling the convicts' early release on January 8, had given them two weeks to surrender and return to jail.

The reasons for seeking extension of the deadline to surrender included failing health, impending surgery, son's marriage and harvesting ripe crops.

The top court on January 8 had quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case, saying the orders were "stereotyped" and passed without application of mind.

Quashing the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission, the apex court on January 8 had said that the remission of convicts was obtained by playing 'fraud on court'.

The 11 convicts released prematurely were: Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh Bhatt.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while trying to escape the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002.

Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

(with PTI inputs)