#2002 Gujarat riots case

[max1461]

I'd say your selective opposition to ethnostates is hypocrisy, but you at least do make it clear that you'll tolerate an enormous amount of nationalist or ethnoreligious violence and repression, so long as it's coming from "nonwhite" (by your standards) people acting in the service of "decolonization."

I don't think I have a selective tolerance of ethnostates. I think I've been pretty clear in my opposition to non-white ethnonationalism, including Hindutva and Japanese nationalism (both of which I've talked about recently) and Han Chinese nationalism (which I haven't talked about recently, but which you can find posts on way back in the archives).

I don't think ethnonationalism is infinitely bad; that is to say that if there were e.g. a group of ethnic nationalists who also credibly claimed to support some form of democracy, and they were engaged in a civil conflict against an autocratic state, I might very well think they were the lesser of two evils. Someone described Rojava as an ethnostate the other day—I don't think it is, either nominally or in practice, but even if it was I would be pretty sympathetic to their cause, given that they're attempting to break away from Assad's Syria. None of that means that I think ethnonationalist policies are good.

Beyond that, I would say that "ethnonationalism" gets used pretty freely on here, for sets of policies that don't materially resemble each other very much. People trying to revive the Welsh language and the BJP trying to eliminate Muslims from India both sometimes get described "ethnonationalism", even though I don't think they actually have much in common at all as policy agendas. The most you could say is that perhaps at some level there are similar emotional motivations involved for certain supporters, but like... who cares? I don't think that's a great basis on which to judge a set of policies. Uncharitably, I think people opposed to policies of the former sort often call them "ethnonationalism" precisely to associate them with policies of the latter sort, as a cheap rhetorical trick. Even if you feel the description is technically accurate in both cases, "preservation of Welsh is just like the 2002 Gujarat riots" does not really work as an argument...

Anyway, I'm a pretty strong supporter of people's endeavors to express and partake in culture that matters to them, and I see "coordinating endeavors that matter to people" as one of the main functions of our (public and private) institutions. So I'm exceedingly sympathetic to "let's dog-ear some money in the budget to help keep Welsh alive", and I suppose if that makes me an ethnonationalist then so be it. But I don't think it does. And in any case, as you can see by my choice of example here, this applies exactly the same to white and non-white people.

[beardedmrbean]

Police in the Indian capital, Delhi, have raided the homes of prominent journalists and authors in connection with an investigation into the funding of news website NewsClick.

NewsClick's founder Prabir Purkayastha and a colleague were arrested. Police also seized laptops and mobile phones.

Officials are reportedly investigating allegations that NewsClick got illegal funds from China - a charge it denies.

Critics say the move is an intentional attack on press freedom.

Started in 2009, NewsClick is an independent news and current affairs website known to be critical of the government. In 2021, it was raided by tax authorities on allegations of breaking India's foreign direct investment rules.

The co-ordinated raids at 30 locations on Tuesday are some of the largest and most extensive on India's media in recent years. Police later confirmed they had arrested Mr Purkayastha and Amit Chakravarty, the website's head of human resources.

"A total of 37 male suspects have been questioned at premises, nine female suspects have been questioned at their respective places of stay and digital devices, documents etc have been seized/collected for examination," a police statement said.

Opposition leaders accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of a "fresh attack on the media". But Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said investigative agencies were merely doing their job.

How did the raids happen?

Among those also questioned were journalists Abhisar Sharma, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Aunindyo Chakravarty, Urmilesh, Bhasha Singh, popular satirist Sanjay Rajoura and historian Sohail Hashmi. Some were taken to police stations.

Searches were also carried out at the website's office in Delhi, news agency ANI reported.

In Mumbai, activist Teesta Setalvad's house was also searched. Ms Setalvad has long fought for victims of the deadly 2002 riots in Gujarat state and has written articles critical of the government for NewsClick.

A source close to Mr Purkayastha told the BBC that more than 15 policemen arrived at the editor's home at 06:30 local time (01:00 GMT).

"They did not produce any warrants or paperwork, questioned him for several hours and took away all the electronic devices they found at home," they said. Later, news agencies showed him being taken away by the police in a vehicle.

Mr Rajoura's lawyer, Ilin Saraswat, said the comedian was raided at the same time and that police took away his laptop, his two phones, some DVDs of his old work and some documents.

"The police said that Mr Rajoura is not named in the current investigation, but since he has worked with the website, he will be interrogated. We have not been provided a copy of the police complaint," he added.

BBC India offices searched by income tax officials

Indian tax authorities raid critical media outlets

India top court frees Muslim comic on bail

According to reports, the raids are in connection with a case registered against NewsClick in August after a New York Times report alleged that the website had received funds from an American millionaire to spread "Chinese propaganda".

It claimed that Neville Roy Singham worked closely with the "Chinese government media machine" and used his network of non-profit groups and shell companies to "finance its propaganda worldwide".

A case was reportedly registered against the website under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, a draconian anti-terror law that makes it nearly impossible to get bail. NewsClick has rejected all the charges as false.

Who was raided?

All the people who were raided have been associated with NewsClick - some are employees, while others have worked on freelance projects.

Prabir Purkayastha, its founder and editor-in-chief, is the author of a number of books and a founding member of the Delhi Science Forum. During the 1975 Emergency - when civil liberties were suspended - he was jailed along with several opposition politicians.

Bhasha Singh is an activist and journalist who has reported extensively on manual scavenging and farmers' suicides. She has accused the government of being anti-women and on Monday appeared in a NewsClick video expressing concern over the increasing trend of members of the governing BJP praising the man who assassinated India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

Abhisar Sharma is a prominent video journalist known for his critical views of the government. He worked for BBC Hindi before moving to work at the NDTV news channel. One of his last videos covered widespread protests by government employees against a new pension scheme.

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, writer, journalist and filmmaker, is best known for his investigations into billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani and is facing several defamation suits filed by the industrialist. Earlier this year, he was mentioned in a report by Hindenburg Research which alleged that companies owned by Mr Adani had engaged in decades of "brazen" stock manipulation and accounting fraud - allegations denied by the industrialist who is perceived as being close to PM Modi.

[legalstudiesin1]

What is Bilkis Bano Case?

Bilkis Bano Case and Supreme Court Judgment: Significance, Sections, and Conviction

The Bilkis Bano case, also known as the Gujarat Riots case, is a high-profile case of communal violence that occurred during the 2002 Gujarat riots in India. Bilkis Bano, a pregnant Muslim woman, was gang-raped and several members of her family were killed during the riots. In 2002, a mob attacked Bilkis Bano and her family while they were trying to flee their village in Gujarat. Bano was…

[menalez]

tw for rape and violence, feel free to not read or delete

btw Idk how much yk about this, but whats happened/happening in india, in manipur isnt the first time smt like this has happened under modi. he was the chief minister of the state of gujurat and has been accused of allowing 2002 anti muslim riots

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-13170914

a muslim woman named bilkis bano was raped by 11 men (she was also pregnant at the time) and her family members were murdered including her 3yo daughter during those riots. and last year modi okayed release of these demons

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62574247

now she has to go to the courtroom AGAIN and offer a plea against her rapists and killers of her family and get retraumatized in the process

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bilkis-bano-rape-case-bilkisd-ppeal-against-remission-supreme-court-8881364/

if anyone had doubts about modi just being incompetent or smt seeing his response to what happened in manipur with those women, thats not it. hes a hindu nationalist and has always been one.

the more i learn about modi, the more horrified i am… he clearly doesn’t care about any indian women if he’s turning a blind eye to such horrific misogynistic violence.

[mariacallous]

It took a viral video for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to finally break his silence on ongoing ethnic violence in the northeastern state of Manipur. The footage, which became public only last month, sparked outrage far beyond the state: Filmed on May 4, it shows a mob assaulting two women from the Kuki minority—stripped naked—before pushing them into an empty field. Reports citing the survivors’ families revealed the complicity of the state police. Ironically, the police station a few hundred yards from the site of the crime was awarded the “Best in the Country” title in 2020.

Violence between the Meitei ethnic majority and the Kukis has hounded Manipur since May, when a court order reserving some government jobs for Meiteis exacerbated tensions over land rights, poppy farming, and religious freedoms. Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has carved out a role for himself as the Meitei community’s de facto leader. More cases of sexual assault have come to light in the past two weeks, but Singh—a member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—now denies that the women in the May 4 video were raped. His state government imposed an internet shutdown for weeks, hindering the spread of information.

The crisis has not subsided, and thousands of weapons stolen from police armories are still circulating among mobs. On Tuesday, India’s Supreme Court described the violence as “an absolute breakdown of law and order.” The presence of federal forces in Manipur hasn’t improved the situation: New Delhi’s strategy has instead divided the state, burning bridges between the Meiteis and Kukis. This apparent political ineptitude falls in line with the BJP’s Hindutva ideology, which identifies Hindus as India’s rightful inhabitants, justifying violence against religious minorities. In Manipur, the Meitei community sees itself as the state’s original inhabitants, replicating the use of violence against Kukis and others that it perceives as outsiders.

The use of state machinery to aid the majoritarian project in Manipur recalls the 2002 Gujarat riots targeting the state’s Muslim population, which occurred while Modi was chief minister. (An opposition politician has even invoked dark parallels to the Rwandan genocide, where the role of the state is well documented.) Manipur’s internet ban, now partially lifted, underlines institutional paranoia about controlling the narrative. Tensions have already spread into other Indian states as well as neighboring Myanmar, where the Kuki community shares ties with the Chin minority. The crisis raises serious questions about Modi’s governance model and his political ability to deal with India’s diversity and the tensions it raises.

In Modi’s statement about the viral video in Manipur, he invoked examples of sexual violence in opposition-led states, diminishing the specificity of the crime and seeking to deflect public outrage. His comments did not lead to any shift in national policy. And while sexual assault against women has captured attention, the scale of overall violence in Manipur is startling. More than 160 people are dead, and another 60,000 people are displaced. More than 4,500 weapons are missing from state armories, with officials estimating that almost all of them are with Meitei militias. More than half of these weapons are automatic—a stunning comparison with the situation in Indian-administered Kashmir, where New Delhi has fought a three-decade-old insurgency in which many militants are armed with pistols.

Manipur’s state police force is not incompetent or careless; its inaction amid the violence borders on complicity. A bulk of the weapons stolen in Manipur have not been returned to or recovered by security forces, and it is not for a lack of personnel in the state. In addition to the 29,000-strong state police, New Delhi has sent 124 federal companies—each with between 80 and 100 troops—to Manipur. Then there are 164 columns of similar strength from the Indian Army and the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary affiliate. For a state with a population of 3.2 million, this comes out to an average of nearly one security person for every 55 citizens.

In May, Modi’s government sent its army chief to Manipur and brought in a new police chief from another state to restore order, but both officials have failed to overcome the partisan state government. The state police forces are split vertically, with the new police chief asking cops to report to duty in areas where their ethnic group is in the majority. New Delhi also issued directions that cleave the state with a federally manned buffer zone between the Meitei-dominated valley and the Kuki-dominated hills. Rather than bringing the violence under control, this approach has cemented the divide between the ethnic groups. The Kukis now demand a new administrative structure separating them from the Meiteis, which is vehemently opposed by the majority community.

The administrative incompetence on the part of both the national government and the state government led by Singh reflects the majoritarian nationalism espoused by the BJP. The embrace of Hindutva in states led by the ruling party has led to the lynching of young Muslim men for the flimsy excuse of smuggling cows and to the creation of laws that seek to criminalize interfaith marriages. In Manipur, the same ideology is tailored at a subnational level: The majority Meiteis have found resonance between their indigenous Sanamahi faith and Hindutva, targeting the largely Christian Kukis. Although the fault lines of the conflict are not drawn explicitly around faith, there are religious undertones to the violence.

New Delhi’s failure to stop the violence in Manipur has not yet affected Modi on the international stage. In the wake of the Gujarat riots, which began after a fire in a train compartment killed 58 Hindu pilgrims traveling from Ayodhya, Modi described the ensuing attacks against Muslims as “a chain of action and reaction.” India’s Supreme Court at the time called Modi a “modern-day Nero,” and he was denied a visa to the United States on the grounds that he was responsible for violations of religious freedom. The ban was reversed only after he became prime minister in 2014. By contrast, in June, with violence escalating in Manipur, Modi chose to travel to Washington for an official state visit. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed him to Paris in July.

All the while, he remained silent. In the three months since the violence began, Modi has not publicly chaired a meeting on Manipur nor issued an official statement for the victims, let alone traveled to the state. In a rare press conference for Modi following his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, the Indian leader responded to a question—only one was allowed—about the status of religious minorities in his country. Despite the question coming while churches were burning and women were being assaulted in Manipur, Modi blurted out meaningless paeans to Indian democracy. At the time, complaints to state police and federal authorities were still awaiting a response.

For New Delhi, hoping that the fires in Manipur will be doused on their own has not worked. India’s government was long able to pacify the state with support from friendly neighbors in Bangladesh and Myanmar. But as tensions spread beyond Manipur, it is at risk of losing those gains. India’s federalism is already under strain, driven by calls for “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan,” the ominous idea of one language, one religion, and one nation defining India. States in the country’s south, where the BJP is relatively weak, have cited the decay of India’s federal structure to rally supporters, raising the possibility of some states demanding more autonomy—a demon thought to have been buried in the early years of India’s independence.

The situation in Manipur has also raised alarms about the capacity of the Indian state to clamp down on violence. Whether unable or unwilling to restore order in Manipur, the national government finds its credibility and authority frayed by the crisis. The state’s internet ban suggests a government that fears the free flow of information, using the suppression of violence as a pretext for broadly curtailing freedom of expression and depriving the citizens of their rights. No modern state can function in such digital darkness—and especially not as Modi boasts on the global stage that India’s digital public infrastructure is “highly secure, highly trusted, and highly efficient.”

In fact, the violence in Manipur is putting India’s desire to be recognized as a global power to the test. Apathy on the part of top leadership, targeting of minorities, and internet shutdowns are not the hallmarks of a country that hopes to be respected as an important player on the world stage—as much as Modi would like to avoid mentioning the issue. Furthermore, the violence in Manipur only draws attention to the fact that India has not held local legislative assembly elections in Muslim-majority Kashmir for more than a decade. The country christens itself as the “mother of democracy” and others hail it as the world’s largest democracy, but such hypocrisy overpowers any public relations campaign by New Delhi and its cheerleaders in foreign capitals.

India is no longer the world’s fastest-growing economy; Saudi Arabia is, followed by Vietnam and the Philippines. Unemployment is a serious concern, as is widening inequality  and weak rural demand. Modi and the BJP head into national elections next year with an economic record that they cannot boast about. The Ladakh border crisis with China has stripped the prime minister of national security talking points. Amid the Manipur crisis, he cannot brag about his ability to make tough calls. If the BJP decides to double down on religious polarization ahead of the elections, as it has regularly done under Modi, it could render India’s minorities even more vulnerable.

India’s leaders once stressed that the country embodied the idea of unity in diversity, allowing it to manage social and ethnic differences without pandering to majoritarian impulses. The violence in Manipur serves as warning of just how far the BJP’s pursuit of such politics could drag India down.

[freelawbydjure]

Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court to hear petitions against remission of 11 convicts on August 7

The Supreme Court fixed the hearing of petitions filed by Bilkis Bano and others related to the 2002 Gujarat riots on August 7, 2023. The petitions were against the remission granted to all 11 convicts for the crime of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing her family members. The matter will be heard by the bench headed by Justice BV Nagarathna. While hearing the matter today, Justice Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan pronounced, “The counsel for Bilkis Bano submitted that newspaper publication as directed by this court was effected on June 1, 2023, and an affidavit with that regard was filed on June 7. Similarly, in other cases, notices on the respondent are stated to be served either directly or by newspaper publication. This fact is not disputed by Solicitor-general for India Tushar Mehta appearing for both the Union of India and the State of Gujarat, as well as other counsel appearing for the private respondents. Therefore, the service on all respondents is held to be complete.”

Click here to Read Full News

Also Read: Supreme Court Latest Updates, Legal Articles, Legal News

[jhapalitimes]

LIVE: Supreme Court Shields Teesta Setalvad, Halts Arrest Order for One Week

In a significant late-night development, the Supreme Court has come to the aid of social activist Teesta Setalvad, safeguarding her from imminent arrest. The apex court has stayed the Gujarat High Court's order, which had rejected Setalvad's plea for regular bail and directed her to surrender promptly. The case pertains to allegations of fabricating evidence to falsely implicate innocent individuals in the post-Godhra riot cases of 2002. During a special late-night hearing, a bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, and Dipankar Datta expressed concerns over the denial of sufficient time for Setalvad to appeal against the High Court's decision. The bench emphasized that even an ordinary criminal is entitled to some form of interim relief and questioned the haste in denying such an opportunity to Setalvad. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the remarkable progress made by public sector banks (PSBs) under the government's initiatives. She revealed that PSBs' net profit has nearly tripled in the past nine years, soaring to an impressive Rs 1.04 lakh crore in the current fiscal year, compared to Rs 36,270 crore in FY2014. Sitharaman stressed the need to sustain this momentum to invigorate the economy further. In France, the unrest stemming from the killing of a 17-year-old by the police continues to grip several cities, despite the deployment of a massive police presence. Rioting, arson, and looting persist, with damages observed across various locations, including Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and even French territories overseas. The government, however, expressed a glimmer of hope, suggesting that the security measures implemented are beginning to curb the violence. Nonetheless, the widespread destruction remains a cause for concern. Tragically, a 54-year-old individual lost their life in French Guiana after being struck by a stray bullet. These events reflect the multifaceted landscape of today's news, encompassing legal battles for justice, economic strides, and the social challenges faced by nations. Stay tuned for further updates on these unfolding stories.Read More:-  LIVE: Supreme Court Shields Teesta Setalvad, Halts Arrest Order for One Week Read the full article

[williamchasterson]

Court acquits all accused in 2002 Gujarat riots case

Eleven died in the violence which broke out in Naroda Gam suburb of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002. from BBC News – World https://ift.tt/KymedQ3 via IFTTT

[qudachuk]

Eleven died in the violence which broke out in Naroda Gam suburb of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002.

[wafact]

India’s Government Wants Total Control of the Internet

Akash Banerjee isn’t sure whether he’s allowed to talk about the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question on his YouTube channel. The documentary examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged role in deadly riots in the West Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, and the government has worked hard to keep Indians from watching it. Screenings at universities have been banned; in one case, students…

[rnewspost]

Minister Kiren Rijiju On Cases Against BBC Series Ban

Kiren Rijiju described it as a “waste of the Supreme Court’s previous time”. (File) New Delhi: Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju today described as a “waste of the Supreme Court’s precious time” petitions challenging the ban on a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots. The Supreme Court will consider next week requests against a government order blocking the…

[theechudar]

Gujarat court acquits 22 accused in post-Godhra riots case in which 17 people were killed | India News

GIDHRA: A court at Halol town in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district on Tuesday acquitted 22 persons, accused of killing 17 members of a minority community, including two children, for want of evidence in a case stemming from the 2002 post-Godhra communal riots in the state. The court of Additional Sessions Judge Harsh Trivedi acquitted all the 22 accused, eight of whom died during the pendency of the…

[xtruss]

India Invokes Emergency Laws To Ban BBC Modi Documentary

Government Accused of ‘Censorship’ Over Ban on Film, “World’s Most Wanted Criminal , Killer, Hindu Extremist,” About Prime Minister’s Role in Violence During 2002 Gujarat Riots

— Guardian USA | January 23, 2023 | Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

World’s Most Wanted Terrorist, Hindu Extremist, Killer and Criminal Narendra Modi, then Dhief Minister of Gujarat, answers questions before a supreme court-appointed panel investigating riots in Gandhinagar in 2010. Photograph: Ajit Solanki/Associated Press

The Indian government has invoked emergency laws to block a BBC documentary examining the role of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, during riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.

Controversy has erupted in India over the first episode of the two-part programme, India: The Modi Question, which tracked his rise through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata party and his appointment as chief minister of Gujarat.

The BBC also uncovered memos showing that Modi’s conduct was criticised at the time by western diplomats and the British government, including in a government report which found that the riots had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing”.

Modi has been haunted for decades by allegations of complicity in the violence that took place during the Gujarat riots, which broke out after 59 Hindu pilgrims died on a train that had been set on fire. The fire was blamed on the state’s Muslim population.

Almost 1,000 Muslims died in violence across the state. Police were accused of standing by and Modi of not doing enough to protect the minority community from the Hindu mobs and even tacitly supporting the Hindu extremists. He has denied accusations he failed to stop the rioting and in 2013 a supreme court panel said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

The first episode of the documentary was broadcast in the UK on Tuesday last week. It has not aired in India but its content – including unauthorised video clips – have been circulating on social media. It prompted a vehement response from the Modi government, which has described the documentary as “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative”.

“The bias and lack of objectivity and frankly continuing colonial mindset are blatantly visible,” said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the foreign affairs ministry.

The documentary was also criticised in a joint statement by more than 300 former judges, bureaucrats and prominent figures who accused the BBC of pushing a British imperialist agenda and “setting itself up as both judge and jury to resurrect Hindu-Muslim tensions”.

It was also raised in the UK parliament, where the Labour MP Imran Hussain challenged the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, over the British government’s alleged knowledge of Modi’s role during in the violence. “I am not sure that I agree at all with the characterisation,” responded Sunak.

Over the weekend, India’s ministry of information and broadcasting issued directions banning any clips from the episode being shared under legislation introduced in 2021 that allow for the “blocking of information in case of emergency”.

Kanchan Gupta, an adviser at the ministry, said the government had ordered Twitter and YouTube to take down dozens of accounts that had been airing clips of the Modi documentary on the basis that it was “undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India” and “making unsubstantiated allegations”.

“Videos sharing BBC World hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage, disguised as ‘documentary’ on YouTube, and tweets sharing links to the BBC documentary have been blocked under India’s sovereign laws and rules,” Gupta said in a tweet.

The BBC has said in a statement that its documentary was “rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards”.

The decision to block the documentary comes amid an increasingly challenging environment for media and freedom of the press under the Modi government, with critical journalists and media subjected to state and judicial harassment. Last year, India slipped eight places in the press freedom index to 150 out of 180 counties, its worst position on record.

The ban on the BBC documentary was met with outrage by opposition politicians, who accused the Modi government of censorship. Mahua Moitra, an MP for opposition party Trinamool Congress, tweeted a link to a clip, writing: “Shame that the emperor and courtiers of the world’s largest democracy are so insecure. Sorry, haven’t been elected to represent world’s largest democracy to accept censorship.”

Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party, questioned why a documentary on Modi was blocked while another upcoming film venerating Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, was being released unchallenged.

[sasusakucore]

Trigger Warning: Rape, murder and communal violence.

This is really a grim day for bilkis bano because one of her petitions has been rejected by the supreme Court of India. She was raped and her family was murdered during the 2002 gujarat riots and her 11 rapists have been set free by the gujarat government under the current ruling party at the centre under 'good behaviour' and the bjp leaders said that they were "good sanskari brahmin men". This really shows the apathy and insensitivity of the supreme Court of India and how Muslim women face injustice in india.

[freelawbydjure]

Bilkis Bano Case: Supreme Court adjourns the case hearing till July 11

02 May, 2023

Today, the Bilkis Bano case was scheduled for a final hearing in the Supreme Court but could not take place due to the disputes raised by the lawyers appearing for some convicts against Bano’s affidavit regarding service of notice. The case was heard by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court including Justice BV Nagarathna, and Justice KM Joseph. Earlier this year, Bilkis Bano approached the Supreme Court against the Gujarat Government’s decision to allow premature release of 11 convicts in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Advocates (for convicts) objected to an affidavit seeking to declare deemed service on the basis that respondents refused the notice. Further, it was argued that Bano made a false claim in the affidavit about the respondents that they were refusing to accept the service. In this context, the convict’s counsel claimed that Bano “played fraud on the court” and asked to take criminal action against her. These allegations were denied by Advocate Shobha Gupta (Bano’s lawyer) and the Advocate mentioned that affidavit was filed on grounds of postal endorsements. As per these objections, the bench adjourned the case hearing till July 11 and ordered to list the case after two weeks for ensuring service completion. During the proceedings, Justice Joseph said, “It is clear what is being attempted here. I will retire on June 19. Since that is during the vacation, my last working day is Friday, May 19. It is obvious you do not want this bench to hear the matter. But, this is not fair to me. We had made it absolutely clear that the matter will be heard for disposal. You are officers of the court. Do not forget that role. You may win a case, or lose one. But, do not forget your duty to this court.”

Also Read: Legal News