The Supreme Court of India has ordered that eleven men freed early after being found guilty of gang-raping a pregnant Muslim woman must be returned to prison.
Part of a Hindu mob, the men were serving life terms for the attack on Bilkis Bano, as well as the murder of 14 of her family members, during anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state in 2002.
However, they were released in August 2022 by order of Gujarat’s government.
The order, and the celebrations as they left prison, caused global outrage.
Ms Bano told the Supreme Court in a petition that the release of the men had “shaken the conscience of the society”.
Calling it “one of the most gruesome crimes this country has ever seen”, she said the release had left her “shell-shocked and completely numb”.
The two-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice BV Nagarathna, said the state of Gujarat was “not competent” to pass the remission order in the case since the men had been tried and convicted in a court in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.
The bench added that since the government’s remission order had been nullified, the 11 convicts must return to prison within two weeks.
“Justice encompasses not just the rights of the convicts but also the rights of the victims” and the “primary duty” of the court is to uphold justice and rule of law, Justice Nagarathna said, adding that the “rule of law must be preserved unmindful of the ripples of the consequences”.
BBC / Titilayo Kupoliyi
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