Bilkis case: Remission does not mean they are not guilty, why felicitate them, asks former judge

Supreme Court had acted very systematically, says Justice (retired) Abhay Thipsay of the Bombay High Court.

Retired judges Justice Abhay Thipsay (left) and Justice Umesh Salvi at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: PTI

Justice (retired) Abhay Thipsay of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said, “remission does not mean they are not guilty of the crime [gangrape of pregnant Bilkis Bano and murder of her daughter along with other family members], why felicitate them with garlands and sweets.”

Justice Thipsay along with justice V.M. Kanade had in 2011 rejected temporary bail of one of the convicts Radheshyam Shah accused of gang-raping a five-month pregnant Bilkis Bano, killing her three-year-old daughter and seven members of her family in 2002 post-Godhra riots.

He said the “Supreme Court has acted very systematically” and granted remission to all the convicts based on an old 1992 policy that allowed early release of convicts given life imprisonment.

He pointed out that while the Code of Criminal Procedure mentioned the appropriate government had the power to grant remission, in this case, it ought to be the Maharashtra government as the trial was held here. However, even on this, the Supreme Court called it, “special circumstances”, therefore Gujarat had the power to decide, he said.

Justice Thipsay went on to say those convicted for gang rape and sentenced to life imprisonment were usually not granted remission, but the Gujarat government had used its “discretionary powers” to do so.

Retired justice U.D. Salvi who convicted all 11 men in 2011 for offences of murder and gang rape, said there was strong evidence against all of them. The judicial system was designed in such a way that very rarely an innocent was convicted and a guilty was let out. He also said that the judge who gave the punishment was usually consulted before grating the convicts remission, but in this case, he was not.

Justice Thipsay asked why felicitate the convicts with garlands and sweets. It was not as if they were not guilty of the offences; remission simply meant that their punishment was suspended.

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, BJP MLA from Godhra C.K. Raulji had said, “some of the convicts in the case were “Brahmins with good sanskaar” or values and it was possible they may have been “fixed due to their past family activities”.

On August 15, 2022, Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Shah, Bipinchandra Joshi, Kesharbhai Vohania, Pradip Modhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana were released on remission.