New Delhi, May 9.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred till July hearing a plea filed by Bilkis Bano against the en masse release of all those convicted for gang-raping her and murdering many of her kin during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The top court has had to adjourn the case for the last few hearings over the non-service of court notices on two of the accused. The accused claimed in court that they were out of town and had not received the notices.
One accused’ kin refused to accept the court notices, Bano’s counsel Shobha Gupta claimed.
Not to be seen as going ahead with the case in absence of the accused, the bench led by Justice K.M. Joseph deferred hearing the case till after the court notices are served on the accused.
The case will now be heard by a new bench which may or may not comprise the other judges B.V. Nagarathna and Ahsanuddin Amanullah. Justice Joseph demits office in June.
At the last hearing, Justice Joseph referred to attempts to delay the hearing so that he could not hear the case.
Today, he gave a last chance for the accused to be served and posted the case for a hearing in July.
The Gujarat government released 11 convicts who had been sentenced to life terms last year in August. Bilkis Bano has challenged the remission order of the state government.
That case is now pending for months with hearings stuck over the accused evading court notices.
Ironically enough, the Supreme Court had in a 2020 ruling ruled that summons, notices can be sent through whatsapp, telegram, email and fax to avoid delays in court hearings.
Two blue ticks would signify receipt of legal notice, it had said. Nine of the accused in the case have been served, only two claimed through their lawyers that they haven’t. Their lawyers could accept notice, but claim that they appear in other cases for the accused and not this case.
