10 Bilkis case convicts ask for more time to surrender

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on Friday a batch of applications filed by 10 of the 11 men convicted in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case, seeking more time to surrender, days after the top court quashed their early release.

- Abraham Thomas

A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol agreed to take up the matter on Friday after one of the convicts pointed out that the deadline to surrender expires on Sunday. The court, however, said the bench that scrapped the remission on January 8 will need to be reconstituted. "Since the bench has to be reconstituted, registry to seek orders from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for reconstitution of bench as the time (to surrender) expires on Sunday," it said.

On January 8, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan of the top court scrapped the remission granted to the 11 convicts in the case and directed them to surrender in two weeks. The bench said Gujarat usurped the power of Maharashtra, where the original trial of the convicts happened, to grant remission, and nullified a 2022 judgment by another bench of the top court, which had directed Gujarat to consider the remission applications of the Il convicts, saying it was obtained by "playing fraud" on court.