Bilkis Bano Convicts Must Surrender By Sunday, Top Court Denies Extension

New Delhi: 

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petitions by the 11 Bilkis Bano case convicts seeking more time before they surrender to the authorities and are sent back to jail. A bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna said the petitions – which cited reasons from attending family weddings and dependant parents to the harvest season – lacked merit and told the men to report to prison officials by Sunday.

The 11 – who raped Ms Bano and slaughtered members of her family during the Godhra riots – were released by the Gujarat government on Independence Day in 2022, on the basis of an obsolete law.

Ms Bano and civil society activists filed frantic appeals against their release, and these were heard by the Supreme Court this month. An irate top court revoked the convicts’ release; the court cancelled its May 2022 order, which had allowed the 11 to appeal to the Gujarat government for early release.