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Updated 15:19 IST, January 19th 2024

Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court Rejects Pleas by Convicts Seeking Extension Time to Surrender

Dismissing the convicts' petitions, the Supreme Court said that the reasons cited by them to seek postponement of surrender have no merit

Reported by: Apoorva Shukla
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Bilkis Bano
SC rejects pleas of convicts in Bilkis Bano gangrape case | Image: PTI

Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has rejected the plea filed by 11 convicts in Bilkis Bano case on Friday, January 19. The convicts had asked for additional time before surrendering to jail authorities citing several reasons which include- ageing parents, approaching harvest season, health issues among others. 

Dismissing the convicts' petitions, the Supreme Court said that the reasons cited by them to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit. The Supreme Court directed the convicts to surrender before jail authorities by January 20. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the reasons cited by the convicts have no merits.

"We have heard senior counsel and counsel for the applicants and the counsel for the non-applicants also. The reasons cited by applicants to seek postponement of surrender and report back to jail have no merit inasmuch as those reasons in no way prevent them from complying with our directions. Hence the miscellaneous applications are dismissed," the bench said.

The convicts have been sentenced for gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in Gujarat. 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.

Published 13:24 IST, January 19th 2024