The Gujarat government was not competent to pass remission orders in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, the Supreme Court noted today while delivering its verdict in a batch of petitions challenging the relief granted to 11 convicts in the case linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The court held Bilkis Bano’s plea challenging the Gujarat government’s order as maintainable. 

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had on October 12 last year reserved the matter for judgment.

The convicts were garlanded and handed sweets, having served over 15 years in jail. They were released after one of them moved the Supreme Court with a plea for premature release. The apex court had then asked the Gujarat government to consider a remission of his sentence. 

The Gujarat government had granted a remission after the May 2022 judgment in which the top court held that an application of remission should be considered in line with the policy of the state where the crime was committed. The state government then used its policy to release the convicts.

However, on Monday, Justice Nagarathna noted that the government of the state where the offender was sentenced is the appropriate government to grant remission instead of the government of the state where the offence took place, LiveLaw reported.