NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has dismissed a review petition filed by Ramesh Rupabhai Chandana, one of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, seeking to revoke the Gujarat government's order granting leniency to 11 convicts. The same bench, comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, upheld the earlier verdict, rejecting calls for an open court hearing.

The case dates back to the 2002 Gujarat riots, where Bilkis Bano was gang-raped and 14 members of her family, including her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, were brutally killed. In a controversial move on August 15, 2022, the Gujarat government had released the 11 convicts from prison, a decision that the Supreme Court overturned in January 2024 with strong criticism.

In January, the Supreme Court ruled that the Gujarat government had acted in collusion with criminals, emphasizing that since the trial was conducted in Maharashtra, only that state had the jurisdiction to decide on any commutation of the sentences. The release of the convicts by the Gujarat government was condemned as an example of usurping and abusing power.

The review petition sought to remove these scathing references from the January verdict, but the court stood firm in its decision. The court rejected Gujarat's defense that it had simply followed the Supreme Court’s 2022 directive to consider leniency for the convicts, calling the verdict obtained by Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, one of the convicts, a "fraud on the court."

“There is no need to review the verdict. After examining the pleadings and documents, it is clear that there was no error in the ruling. Therefore, the petitions are dismissed,” stated the bench, delivering a strong setback to the Gujarat government.

Following the Supreme Court's January 2024 ruling, the convicts, who had been released in 2022, surrendered and are now serving life sentences.