New Delhi: In an open letter to the Supreme Court, 134 former members of the All India Services, under the banner of the Constitutional Conduct Group, have expressed their deep distress at the Gujarat government’s decision to release prematurely the 11 men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing 14 people during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The signatories of the open letter have called upon the top court to rectify the “horrendously wrong decision” by the state government to release the imprisoned convicts under the state’s remission policy on August 15 this year, India’s 75th Independence Day.
In 2008, these men had been sentenced to life for gang-raping 21-year-old Bilkis Bano, who was also five months pregnant, and murdering 14 people, including Bano’s three-year-old daughter, during the 2002 Gujarat communal riots.
Following the Gujarat government’s decision to release the 11 convicts under its remission policy, a PIL was filed and is currently being heard by the top court. Notice was issued to the Gujarat government as well as the Union government in the case.
Also read: Over 6,000 Signatories Urge SC To Revoke Early Release Of Convicts In Bilkis Bano Case
The letter begins by recounting the incidents that took place on February 28, 2002, when a 19-year-old and five-months pregnant Bano, along with members of her family and other Muslim locals, was attempting to flee from a mob destroying Muslim homes as part of the communal riots underway in the state.
“Bilkis, her mother and three other women were raped and her three-year old daughter’s head was smashed. Later eight persons were found dead and six were missing. Bilkis, naked and unconscious, an old man, and a three-year-old survived; her own daughter did not. It is a remarkable story of courage that this battered and bruised young woman, hiding from her tormentors, managed to seek justice from the courts,” the letter reads.
The letter then retraces the journey of the case, transferred from the Gujarat police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and then from Gujarat to a special CBI court in Mumbai to ensure a fair trial, in light of the death threats Bano had been receiving at the time.
“The case was a rare one because not only were the rapists and murderers punished, but so, too, were the policemen and doctors who tried to tamper with and erase the evidence to protect the accused and cover up the crime,” the former servicemen and women wrote in the letter.
Activists and members of various women’s organisations protest the Gujarat government’s decision in Gurugram’s Leisure Valley park. Photo: PTI.
The letter then moves to this year, when one of the convicts, Radheshyam Shah, approached the Supreme Court with a plea seeking his premature release. It also notes that the Gujarat high court had, in the past, been moved with the same plea, but had dismissed it, observing (with judicial precedent) that the appropriate government to deal with the plea would be that of the state in which the conviction was ordered, i.e. Maharashtra, and not Gujarat.
However, on May 13, as the letter highlights, the top court held that since the crime was committed in Gujarat, the Gujarat government is the ‘appropriate government’ to hear the convicts’ remission pleas.
The CCG signatories question this decision in the letter, highlighting that collusion of government officials in the case in the past was apparent. Further, the letter marks the precedent set in Union of India versus V. Sriharan alias Murugan that the ‘appropriate government’ would be the one of the state in which the conviction took place, calling it “unfortunate” that this precedent was not followed in the present case.
The letter then raises objections to the top court’s order that the case should be heard by the state of Gujarat within two months, questioning why the decision was afforded this urgency, Further, it highlights the Supreme Court’s directions that the case should be heard on the basis of Gujarat’s 1992 remission policy rather than the present one.
“While it may be the practice, as held by the Supreme Court in its judgment of 22 March 2010 in State of Haryana & Ors vs Jagdish, to examine a remission proposal on the basis of the policy existing at the time of conviction, surely the Supreme Court could not be unaware of the major changes in the punishment for rape and murder and the policy for remission which were made much more severe in 2014 after the Nirbhaya case? Can persons who committed rape and murder in 2002 be less liable than persons who rape and murder at the present time?” The letter reads.
Also read: Release of Bilkis Bano Case Convicts: Conflicting Remission Policies Raise Difficult Questions
With regards to the Gujarat government’s decision to release Shah and the ten other convicts, the signatories of the letter raised a number of “errors”:
1. According to Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), where a case has been investigated by the CBI, clearance of the Union government has to be taken before giving remission in sentence. We are unaware whether such permission was taken, but it does not seem that it was;
2. According to Section 432(2) of the CrPC, the opinion of the presiding judge of the court that passed the order of conviction has to be taken before granting such remission. The Union government, while writing to the state governments in February, 2013, quoted the Supreme Court order which inter alia stated, ‘Before actually exercising the power of remission under Section 432 of the CrPC, the appropriate government must obtain the opinion (with reasons) of the presiding judge of the convicting or confirming court. Remission can, therefore, be given only on a case-by-case basis and not in a wholesale manner’.It appears that the view of the presiding judge of the CBI court was not taken;
3. In a case like this where the victim, her family and witnesses braved death threats and threats of physical harm in fighting the case and shifted residence repeatedly for safety, it was obligatory for the Gujarat government to ascertain how such a release would impact their lives. This was not done even though the victim and her supporters have often stated that they were threatened with violence by the convicts (who were liberally granted parole while in jail) as well as by the families and friends of the convicts. Bilkis has reportedly changed homes some 20 times over these years, because of threats to her life. With the celebrated release of the convicts from jail, the trauma, suffering and vulnerability to harm for Bilkis will be significantly heightened;
4. It is also shocking that five out of ten members of the Advisory Committee, which sanctioned the early release, belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the remaining are ex-officio members. This raises the important question of the impartiality and independence of the decision, and vitiates both the process and its outcome.
“In view of these glaring deviations from established law, departure from government policy and propriety, and the chilling impact that this release will have, not just on Bilkis Bano and her family and supporters, but also on the safety of all women in India, especially those who belong to minority and vulnerable communities, we urge you to rescind the order of remission passed by the Gujarat government and send the 11 persons convicted of gang rape and murder back to jail to serve out their life sentence,” the letter concludes.
Below is the full list of signatories of the letter:
| Anita Agnihotri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI | |
| Salahuddin Ahmad | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan | |
| S.P. Ambrose | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI | |
| Anand Arni | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Mohinderpal Aulakh | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Jails), Govt. of Punjab | |
| Aruna Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI | |
| J.L. Bajaj | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh | |
| G. Balachandhran | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Vappala Balachandran | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Gopalan Balagopal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Chandrashekar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI | |
| Sushant Baliga | Engineering Services (Retd.) | Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI | |
| Rana Banerji | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| T.K. Banerji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission | |
| Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal | |
| Pradip Bhattacharya | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Meeran C Borwankar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI | |
| Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI | |
| Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi | |
| K.M. Chandrasekhar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Cabinet Secretary, GoI | |
| Rachel Chatterjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh | |
| Kalyani Chaudhuri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Gurjit Singh Cheema | IAS (Retd.) | Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab | |
| F.T.R. Colaso | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir | |
| Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI | |
| P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI | |
| Nareshwar Dayal | IFS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| Pradeep K. Deb | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI | |
| Nitin Desai | Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI | ||
| M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana | |
| Sushil Dubey | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Sweden | |
| A.S. Dulat | IPS (Retd.) | Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI | |
| K.P. Fabian | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Italy | |
| Prabhu Ghate | IAS (Retd.) | Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI | |
| Arif Ghauri | IRS (Retd.) | Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation) | |
| Gourisankar Ghosh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI | |
| Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI | |
| S.K. Guha | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI | |
| H.S. Gujral | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab | |
| Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI | |
| Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India | |
| Wajahat Habibullah | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner | |
| Deepa Hari | IRS (Resigned) | ||
| Vivek Harinarain | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Tamil Nadu | |
| Sajjad Hassan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur | |
| Siraj Hussain | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI | |
| Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI | |
| Naini Jeyaseelan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI | |
| Najeeb Jung | IAS (Retd.) | Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi | |
| Vinod C. Khanna | IFS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI | |
| Dhirendra Krishna | IA&AS (Retd.) | Former Financial Controller, Irrigation Department, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh | |
| Ajai Kumar | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Director, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI | |
| Brijesh Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI | |
| Ish Kumar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission | |
| Aloke B. Lal | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General (Prosecution), Govt. of Uttarakhand | |
| Subodh Lal | IPoS (Resigned) | Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI | |
| Sunil Lal | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Brazil and former Ambassador to Spain | |
| B.B. Mahajan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI | |
| P.M.S. Malik | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI | |
| Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Lalit Mathur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI | |
| Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan | |
| Dalip Mehta | IFS (Retd.) | Former Secretary to GoI & Dean, Foreign Service Institute | |
| Shivshankar Menon | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser | |
| Sonalini Mirchandani | IFS (Resigned) | GoI | |
| Malay Mishra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Hungary | |
| Sunil Mitra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| Noor Mohammad | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India | |
| Avinash Mohananey | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim | |
| Geetmala Mohananey | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI | |
| Satya Narayan Mohanty | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission | |
| Jugal Mohapatra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI | |
| Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal | |
| Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| Gautam Mukhopadhaya | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar | |
| Pranab S. Mukhopadhya | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI | |
| T.K.A. Nair | IAS (Retd.) | Former Adviser to Prime Minister of India | |
| Sobha Nambisan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka | |
| Ramesh Narayanaswami | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi | |
| Surendra Nath | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| P.A. Nazareth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Egypt and Mexico | |
| P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh | |
| Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI | |
| Mira Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former State Election Commissioner, West Bengal | |
| Maxwell Pereira | IPS (Retd.) | Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi | |
| G.K. Pillai | IAS (Retd.) | Former Home Secretary, GoI | |
| R. Poornalingam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI | |
| Jayant Prasad | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Nepal | |
| Rajesh Prasad | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to the Netherlands | |
| R.M. Premkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Rajdeep Puri | IRS (Resigned) | Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI | |
| T.R. Raghunandan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI | |
| N.K. Raghupathy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI | |
| V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission | |
| K. Sujatha Rao | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI | |
| M.Y. Rao | IAS (Retd.) | ||
| Satwant Reddy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI | |
| Vijaya Latha Reddy | IFS (Retd.) | Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI | |
| Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania | |
| Aruna Roy | IAS (Resigned) | ||
| Manabendra N. Roy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| A.K. Samanta | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh | |
| G. Sankaran | IC&CES (Retd.) | Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal | |
| S. Satyabhama | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI | |
| N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI | |
| A. Selvaraj | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI | |
| Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI | |
| Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan | |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat | |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia | |
| Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia | |
| Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh | |
| Ajai Kumar Singh | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka | |
| Mukteshwar Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission | |
| Ramesh Inder Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Punjab and former Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab | |
| Sujatha Singh | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI | |
| Tara Ajai Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka | |
| Tirlochan Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI | |
| A.K. Srivastava | IAS (Retd.) | Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal | |
| Parveen Talha | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission | |
| Anup Thakur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission | |
| P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission | |
| Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata | |
| Hindal Tyabji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir | |
| Jawed Usmani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh | |
| Ashok Vajpeyi | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi | |
| Ramani Venkatesan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Rudi Warjri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica |