Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Gujarat authorities for granting remission to 11 life convicts inside the Bilkis Bano case, saying the state should have considered the gravity of the offence sooner than taking the choice. Terming the case of a pregnant girl being gang-raped and her kinfolk murdered as horrendous, Justice Ok M Joseph said, “When you exercise power, it has to be for public good. Specially in this case because crimes are committed against the community… What is the message you are sending? Will you compare a case of murder of a single person with that of 14 helpless people… Like you cannot compare apples with oranges, massacre cannot be compared with single murder.” The bench moreover took sturdy exception to the Gujarat authorities and the Centre proposing to file a evaluation petition citing privilege to drawback the courtroom’s March 27 path to produce sooner than all of it associated recordsdata on remission.
“We are seeking review of the order for producing files and also seeking privilege. Besides, many documents are in Gujarati, they require translation,” Additional Solicitor General S V Raju submitted. Justice Joseph retorted, “If you don’t current us the recordsdata, then we’ll draw our private conclusion. What is the difficulty in exhibiting us the recordsdata in the intervening time? You’re in contempt when you occur to haven’t produced it .
What is the issue?” The courtroom granted them time to find out on submitting the evaluation petition and posted the matter for closing disposal on May 2. During the listening to, the bench moreover questioned the extent of parole given to the convicts. “Look at the records, one of them was granted parole for 1,000 days that is three years, the other 1,200 days and third is for 1,500 days. What policy have you (Gujarat government) been following? It is not a simple case of Section 302 (murder).”
Proportional yardstick
“The power of the state government to grant remission is not amenable for judicial review unless manifestly arbitrary. But it should be proportional to crime,” the bench observed
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Gujarat authorities for granting remission to 11 life convicts inside the Bilkis Bano case, saying the state should have considered the gravity of the offence sooner than taking the choice. Terming the case of a pregnant girl being gang-raped and her kinfolk murdered as horrendous, Justice Ok M Joseph said, “When you exercise power, it has to be for public good. Specially in this case because crimes are committed against the community… What is the message you are sending? Will you compare a case of murder of a single person with that of 14 helpless people… Like you cannot compare apples with oranges, massacre cannot be compared with single murder.” The bench moreover took sturdy exception to the Gujarat authorities and the Centre proposing to file a evaluation petition citing privilege to drawback the courtroom’s March 27 path to produce sooner than all of it associated recordsdata on remission.
“We are seeking review of the order for producing files and also seeking privilege. Besides, many documents are in Gujarati, they require translation,” Additional Solicitor General S V Raju submitted. Justice Joseph retorted, “If you don’t current us the recordsdata, then we’ll draw our private conclusion. What is the difficulty in exhibiting us the recordsdata in the intervening time? You’re in contempt when you occur to haven’t produced it .
What is the issue?” The courtroom granted them time to find out on submitting the evaluation petition and posted the matter for closing disposal on May 2. During the listening to, the bench moreover questioned the extent of parole given to the convicts. “Look at the records, one of them was granted parole for 1,000 days that is three years, the other 1,200 days and third is for 1,500 days. What policy have you (Gujarat government) been following? It is not a simple case of Section 302 (murder).”googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );
Proportional yardstick
“The power of the state government to grant remission is not amenable for judicial review unless manifestly arbitrary. But it should be proportional to crime,” the bench observed
