THE Supreme Court is scheduled to resume hearing on Thursday a clutch of petitions challenging the remission granted to all 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which is hearing the final arguments on the pleas challenging the remission granted to the convicts, will hear for the seventh day the submissions of the accused who are defending their release.

 

While hearing the arguments on August 24, the top court had said, “Law is supposed to be a noble profession,” as it voiced surprise over how can one of the convicts in the case practise law after his conviction, the remission of his sentence notwithstanding. The issue came to the court’s notice when advocate Rishi Malhotra, defending the remission granted to Radheshyam Shah, told the bench that his client had served over 15 years of actual sentence and the state government gave him the relief after taking note of his conduct. The Gujarat Government had released all 11 convicts in the case on the basis of the 1992 remission policy and not the policy adopted in 2014, which is now in force.