The Supreme Court, on Monday, directed the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case to surrender to the respective jail authorities within a two-week period. Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan asserted that the plea for the protection of the convicts’ liberty cannot be entertained, and the annulment of remission orders must entail the “natural consequences.”
The bench emphasized that a person is entitled to the protection of their liberty only in accordance with the law. The court questioned whether, in upholding the rule of law, the protection of liberty can be justified in the face of a breach or violation of the law.
“We wish to make it clear that only when the rule of law prevails, liberty and other fundamental rights would prevail in our constitution,” stated the bench.
The Supreme Court nullified the Gujarat government’s decision, made on August 15, 2022, to release the convicts under the state’s remission policy. This decision pertains to the case involving the gang rape and murder of Bilkis Bano’s family members during the 2002 state riots.
