NEW DELHI: The SC Friday asked the Gujarat government to file in two weeks all records pertaining to the grant of remission of sentence to 11 convicts who had served more than 15 years in the Bilkis Bano case, related to the murders of 14 persons and gang rape of several women during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The SC asked the released convicts to file their responses to a PIL filed by politician-activist Subhasini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and social activist Roop Rekha Verma even when counsel Rishi Malhotra, appearing for one of the released lifers, protested that the petitioners, being third parties, had no locus in a criminal case. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra too has filed a PIL challenging the grant of remission to the lifers. The bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and B V Nagarathna posted the hearing after three weeks.
Interestingly, another bench of the Supreme Court on Friday said it is a settled principle that third parties, unconnected to a criminal case, can have no locus standi and cannot be allowed to intervene.
