All 11 convicts of Bilkis Bano case surrender at Godhra sub jail as per SC's deadline

All 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case surrendered late Sunday night at Godhra sub jail in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, adhering to the Supreme Court's deadline.

The Supreme Court previously denied their request for an extension of the surrender deadline due to reasons such as 'ill health', 'harvest of winter crops', and 'son's marriage'. On 8 January, the Supreme Court overruled the Gujarat government's decision from August 2022 to prematurely release the 11 convicts serving life terms.

The convicts, who were prematurely released on Independence Day 2022, were ordered back to jail within two weeks. These convicts had been granted premature release after 14 years of imprisonment, based on their 'good conduct'.

The Supreme Court, in its 251-page judgment, ruled that the Gujarat government was not authorized to accept applications for remission of sentences. The convicts in the case were Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh Bhatt.

Bilkis Bano was a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was gang-raped during the communal riots that followed the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.