The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the need to entertain public interest litigation (PILs) petitions filed by “third parties” in a case in which the affected person, Bilkis Bano, herself filed a separate petition against the premature release of 11 men convicted of her gangrape and the deaths of seven persons during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
The question from a Bench headed by Justice B.V. Nagarathna came while hearing submissions on the locus standi of the petitioners.
The PIL petitioners include Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who said the release “completely fails to bolster either social or human justice”; CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali; independent journalist and filmmaker Revati Laul; and former philosophy professor and activist Roop Rekh Varma.
