The Supreme Court on May 2 deferred to May 9 the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted to the 11 convicts last year in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
A Bench of justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna was told by Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Gujarat Government, that they are not claiming any privilege and are not filing any plea for review of the March 27 order of the court, which had asked for production of original records, with regard to the remission granted to the convicts.
The SG, at the outset, raised preliminary objections with regard to petitions filed in the matter other than by Bano, saying it will have wide ramifications as every now and then third parties will come to the courts in criminal cases.
The Bench fixed May 9 for hearing the matter as several counsel for convicts, who have been released in the case, said that they need time to file their replies to the plea by Bano.
“We are only fixing timelines, so that whichever court takes up the matter, it will not have to waste time on these procedural issues. I am retiring during vacation on June 16. My last working day will be on May 19. My sister (Justice Nagarathna) will be going to attend a conference in Singapore till May 25. If all of you agree, then we can sit during vacation and finish hearing this case,” Justice Joseph said.
The SG, however, urged the court that it may list the matter after the summer vacation. Advocate Shobha Gupta said that the matter will take a very short time as only the question of law needs to be decided.
Justice Joseph told Gupta, “It is apparent from the way counsel appearing for convicts that they do not want this hearing to take place. Every time the matter will be called up, one person or the other will come and say that he needs time to file a reply. It is more than obvious”.
However, the Bench said that the new Bench will take up the matter for hearing in the second week of July. Senior advocate Siddharth and advocate Rishi Malhotra, appearing for the convicts, said what was the “tearing hurry” in hearing the case after counsel for Bano and others requested that the matter be taken up before vacation.
“We have been released and are out for around one year. There should not be any tearing hurry,” Malhotra said.
He added that he wishes to file some preliminary objections to the writ petition filed by Bano against the remission, saying that the Supreme Court rules do not allow the filing of a writ petition after a review against the main judgement has been dismissed.
On April 18, the Supreme Court questioned the Gujarat Government over the remission granted to the 11 convicts last year, saying the gravity of the offence should have been considered and asked whether there was any application of mind.
Asking for reasons for the premature release of the convicts, the top court also questioned the parole granted to them during their incarceration period. “It (remission) is a kind of grace which should be proportional to crime.”
The Centre and the Gujarat Government had also told the court they may file a plea seeking a review of its March 27 order asking them to be ready with original files on the grant of remission.
On March 27, terming the Bilkis Bano’s gang rape and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots as a “horrendous” act, the top court had asked the Gujarat government whether uniform standards, as followed in other cases of murder, were applied while granting remission to the 11 convicts in the case.
It had sought a response from the Centre, Gujarat Government and others on the plea filed by Bano, who has challenged the remission of the sentences.
All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat Government and released on August 15 last year.
The court is seized of PILs filed by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, Revati Laul, an independent journalist, Roop Rekha Verma, who is a former vice chancellor of the Lucknow University, and TMC MP Mahua Moitra against the release of the convicts. Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing from the riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.
Defamation case | Gujarat High Court refuses to grant interim protection to Rahul Gandhi
The Gujarat High Court on May 2 reserved its orders in the plea filed by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his criminal revision plea filed seeking a stay on his conviction in the “Modi surname” remark case.
The Court has also declined to grant any interim protection to Gandhi on his plea seeking a stay on conviction. The court of Justice Hemant Prachchhak observed that it is in the interest and fitness of the case that the matter be decided finally, and refused interim protection at this stage.
Advocate Nirupam Nanavati, who appeared for Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Purnesh Modi, the original complainant in the case, also opposed Singhvi’s prayer for interim relief to the disqualified Lok Sabha MP.
The Gujarat High Court will pass the final judgement post summer vacation. The HC heard Gandhi’s appeal against the sessions court’s order last month refusing to stay his conviction in the 2019 defamation case after a trial court in Surat convicted and sentenced him to two years in jail, leading to his disqualification as a Member of Parliament.
Sharad Pawar steps down as NCP chief, says ‘one has to stop somewhere’
Amid buzz around his nephew and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar warming up to the BJP, Sharad Pawar on May 2 stepped down as president of the party and will not be contesting elections in the future.
Announcing his big move at the release of the second edition of his political memoirs in Mumbai on Tuesday, the 82-year-old former Union Minister and four-time Maharashtra Chief Minister said that he has three years remaining in Rajya Sabha during which he will focus on issues related to Maharashtra with a caveat of not taking any responsibility.
“After a long period of public life from May 1, 1960, to May 1, 2023, it is necessary to take a step back. Hence, I have decided to step down as President of the Nationalist Congress Party,” he said.
However, he said, he intended to do more in the fields of education, agriculture, cooperation, sports, and culture, amongst others. “I will also pay attention to issues related to the youth, students, workers, Dalits, tribal and other weaker sections of the society,” Pawar said.
A committee will be formed to decide who should be given the responsibility of the party’s chief, he said and added that the panel should have senior members including Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Praful Patel and others.
“This committee will decide on the president’s selection. It will continue to strive for the growth of the party organisation, to take the ideology and goals of the party to the people, and to serve the people, as they deem fit.
“My colleagues, even though I am stepping down from the post of president, I am not retiring from public life. ‘Constant travel’ has become an integral part of my life. I will continue attending public events, and meetings. Whether I am in Pune, Mumbai, Baramati, Delhi or any other part of India, I will be available to all of you as usual. I will continue to work round the clock to solve people’s problems,” Pawar said.
“The love and trust of the people is my breath. There will be no separation from me or public retirement. I was with you; I am and will always be there till my last breath! So we’ll keep meeting,” the NCP patriarch said.
Soon after Pawar announced his decision to step down, his party cadre urged him to reconsider his decision saying they won’t leave the auditorium till he does so.
Go First airline files for bankruptcy at National Company Law Tribunal
Low-cost carrier Go First has filed for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal and suspended its flight operations for the next two days over mounting losses it attributed to delays in delivery of Pratt and Whitney engines. A senior DGCA official confirmed that the airline has suspended operations for May 3 and 4.
The airline in a detailed statement attributed its bankruptcy plea to the grounding of 50% of its aircraft fleet, i.e. 20 planes, due to delays in delivery of engines by Pratt and Whitney which it said resulted in loss in revenue along with additional expenses.
“The grounding of close to 50% of its A320neo fleet due to the serial failure of Pratt & Whitney’s engines, while it continued to incur 100% of its operational costs, has set Go First back by ₹10,800 crores in lost revenues and additional expenses. Moreover, Go First has paid ₹5,657 crores to lessors in the last two years of which approximately ₹1,600 crores was paid towards lease rent for non-operational grounded aircraft,” the airline said.
The percentage of grounded aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney’s faulty engines has grown from 7% in December 2019 to 31% in December 2020 to 50% in December 2022, it added.
The current situation was precipitated, the airline maintains, by Pratt and Whitney’s refusal to take steps to immediately release 10 leased engines by April 27, 2023 and another 10 by December 2023, as per the order of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in March. The airline says had the engines been made available it would have returned to full operations by August or September 2023.
“Pratt & Whitney has failed to provide any further serviceable spare leased engines at all, and has stated that there are no further spare leased engines available for it to comply with the emergency arbitrator’s award,” as per the statement.
The airline has sought a compensation of approximately ₹8,000 crores in the SIAC arbitration, and it says that if the arbitration is successful it will be able to pay dues to its creditors.
The airline said that once the NCLT accepts Go First’s application under Section 10 of IBC, an Interim Resolution Professional (“IRP”) will take over and operate the airline.
In Brief:
U.S. commission seeks sanctions on Indian agencies over ‘violation’ of religious freedom
A federal U.S. commission has urged the Biden administration to impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for “severe violations” of religious freedom in the country by freezing their assets. The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during U.S.-India bilateral meetings and hold hearings on it. In its annual report on religious freedom, the USCIRF asked the U.S State Department to designate India as a “country of particular concern” on the status of religious freedom along with several other nations. The USCIRF has been making similar recommendations to the State Department since 2020, which have not been accepted.
Considering formation of panel to examine execution of death row convicts by hanging: Centre to Supreme Court
The government apprised the Supreme Court on May 2 that it is considering the formation of a committee to examine the need for a painless and more dignified alternative to death by hanging. Appearing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Attorney General R. Venkataramani sought time till July to report back to the Supreme Court.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
