The Gujarat Government’s Monday affidavit in the Supreme Court defending the remission of rapists of Bilkis Bano for “good behaviour” and for having served 14 years in jail, itself contains evidence that two of the convicts had cases lodged against them for crimes committed when they were on parole or furlough.
One of the two, Mitesh Bhatt, who is now 57, faces charges of assaulting a woman with the intention to outrage her modesty when he was out on parole. In all, he was out of jail for 1,005 days.
An offence was registered in 2015 against another convict, Ramesh Chandana, now 58, under Prison Act 51 (a), and 51(b) for late surrender. Chandana availed the maximum leave of 1,576 days – out of 11 times he availed furlough leave, he had surrendered quite late after the eligible 14-day leave on three occasions. In 2015, he turned himself in late by 122 days.
Both these cases have also been mentioned in the State Government’s affidavit certifying the good behaviour of the convicts, saying they had already served 14 years and that the Union Home Ministry had approved the remission of all the convicts.
Ironically, the Gujarat Government’s own affidavit also says that all the convicts were on leave for an average of 1,176 days, with the highest at 1,576 days or over four years (Chandana) and the lowest at 998 days (Bakabhai Vahoniya) in a sentence of 14 years.
Not only this, but the Gujarat Government also concedes that in March 2021, the “Superintendent of Police, CBI, Special Crime Branch, Mumbai” and “the Special Civil Judge (CBI), City Civil and Sessions Court, Greater Bombay” had opposed the early release of the prisoners.
Besides these, the Dahod Superintendent of Police, the Dahod Collector, Additional DGP (Prisons) and the Godhra Principal District and Sessions Judge had also objected to let off at least one convict Radheshyam Shah. Shah’s was the only case where the authorities had sought the opinion of Bilkis Bano and her family members before giving an opinion in the negative.
Parole is usually granted for a maximum duration of one month for a specific reason in case of short-term imprisonment, while furlough is usually for a maximum duration of 14 days after serving a specified minimum period in a long-term sentence. While no reason is needed for seeking furlough, it does not confer any legal right on the prisoner.
Bilkis Bano was gang-raped when she was pregnant and her three-year-old daughter was among 14 people of her family killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district, during the Gujarat riots.
