The SC not only declined to hear the plea, it also turned a deaf ear on Bhagora's plea for a notice to be issued to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had investigated the case.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a plea for an urgent hearing filed by Gujarat police officer Ramabhai Bhagora who sought a stay of the May 2017 Bombay High Court order that convicted him in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
Justices AK Sikri and Deepak Gupta who chaired the vacation bench, opined that there was 'no urgency' since the convict had already undergone his sentence. However, Bhagora's counsel submitted that unless the conviction was not stayed, his client would lose his job.
The SC not only declined to hear the plea, it also turned a deaf ear on Bhagora's plea for a notice to be issued to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had investigated the case. The matter is now posted for hearing sometime in July.
Earlier this month, the Bombay High Court had turned down CBI's plea seeking a death sentence for three of the 11 convicts who were sentenced to life by a trial court. It had also set aside the acquittal of the five policemen and two medicos. The HC had sentenced Bhagora, the four other policemen and two doctors to time served in jail.
IPS officer RS Bhagora was charged with suppressing and tampering with evidence. In all, 18 people were convicted for gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
On March 3, 2002, days after the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, Bano, who was then 19-years old and five-months pregnant, was escaping from the mob in a truck with her family. As they were passing Randhikpur village in Dahod district, armed men attacked the truck and killed 14 members of Bano's family. Bano was gang-raped and left to die. However, she and two other relatives survived the horror.
On January 21, 2008, six years after the incident took place, a trial court had held the accused guilty of murder, gang-rape and raping a pregnant woman. The court had then sentenced the 11 to life imprisonment.
Those sentenced to life imprisonment included Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Bhagwan Das Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Bilkis Bano")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}