‘Aghast’: 134 Ex-Bureaucrats Write To CJI Requesting Him To Quash Remission of 11 Gang-Rape Convicts In Bilkis Bano Case
(Judicial Quest News Network)
As many as 134 former Civil Servants have written an open letter to CJI against the pre-mature release of 11 life convicts in the case of Bilkis Bano Gang rape and murder of her family members in 2002 Gujarat riots.
“We, a group of former members of the All India and Central Services who have come together as the Constitutional Conduct Group, have worked in different capacities with the State and Central governments. We have no affiliation with any political party and are, instead, committed to the values enshrined in the Constitution and the judicial process that is protected by it.” wrote the former bureaucrats.
The letter beseeches the Supreme Court to rescind the Gujarat Government’s order of remission and send them back to jail to serve out their life sentence.
The Bilkis Bano rapists walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15- when India celebrated its 75 years of Independence after the Gujarat Government granted them permission under its remission policy.
The ex-members of the All Indian and Central Services who have formed themselves into a group, namely “The Constitutional Conduct Group” have expressed that much like the other citizens of the Country, they are outraged at the decision of the Gujarat Government to grant early release to these 11 men who had committed such a ghastly crime.
The letter states that the group reposes its hope in the Supreme Court to we are deeply distressed by this decision of the Government of Gujarat and because we believe that it is only the Supreme Court which has the prime jurisdiction, and hence the responsibility, to rectify this horrendously wrong decision.
The crime took place amidst the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. A five-month pregnant Bilkis Bano, who was around 19 years old then, was fleeing their village in Dahod district along with his family members. When they reached the outskirts of the Chhapparwad village Bilkis, her mother and family members, including her three-year old daughter were murdered.
So influential were the persons accused of this ghastly crime and so politically fraught was the issue that not only had the case to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) instead of by the Gujarat police, but it also had to be transferred from Gujarat to a special CBI court in Mumbai, to ensure a fair trial, because of the death threats received by Bilkis Bano.
In January 2008, the special CBI court in Mumbai sentenced 11 accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family.
The Supreme Court had ordered to shift the trial to Maharashtra. In 2008, a session court in Mumbai sentenced the accused to life imprisonment.
After serving 15 years in jail, one of the accused, Radheshyam Shah, approached the Supreme Court with a plea for his premature release.
The Gujarat High Court which had earlier been approached for this purpose had dismissed his plea while observing that the “appropriate government” to decide the case was that of Maharashtra and not Gujarat. Shah then filed a plea in the Supreme Court.
On 13 May 2022, the Supreme Court passed an order in Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah @ Lala Vakil vs State of Gujarat that, since the crime was committed in Gujarat, the state of Gujarat was the appropriate government to examine Shah’s application.
Surely, going by the past history of the case and the collusion of the state officials with the perpetrators of the crime that was apparent, this case should have been dealt with differently! We have learnt that there is a judicial precedent in the Constitution Bench judgement of 2 December 2015 (Union of India vs V Sriharan alias Murugan), which holds that the appropriate government to decide the issue shall be the state government where the conviction took place, which in this case would be the state of Maharashtra.
We consider it unfortunate that the Constitution Bench precedent laid down in V Sriharan’s case was not followed in the Radheshyam Shah judgement of 13 May 2022.
We consider it unfortunate that the Constitution Bench precedent laid down in V Sriharan’s case was not followed in the Radheshyam Shah judgement of 13 May 2022.
The Supreme Court, on Radheshyam Shah’s plea, also directed that the application for premature release be considered by the Gujarat government within two months, and in terms of its policy dated 9 July 1992.
We are puzzled about why the Supreme Court saw the matter as so urgent that a decision had to be taken within two months, as also by the Supreme Court ordering that the case should be examined as per Gujarat’s 1992 remission policy and not its current one. While it may be the practice, as held by the Supreme Court in its judgment of 22 March 2010 in State of Haryana & Ors vs Jagdish, to examine a remission proposal on the basis of the policy existing at the time of conviction, surely the Supreme Court could not be unaware of the major changes in the punishment for rape and murder and the policy for remission which were made much more severe in 2014 after the Nirbhaya case? Can persons who committed rape and murder in 2002 be less liable than persons who rape and murder at the present time?
It is our view that in doing so the Gujarat government committed several errors:
(1) According to Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), where a case has been investigated by the CBI, clearance of the Union Government has to be taken before giving remission in sentence. We are unaware whether such permission was taken, but it does not seem that it was;
(2) According to Section 432(2) of the CrPC, the opinion of the presiding Judge of the court that passed the order of conviction has to be taken before granting such remission.
The Government of India, while writing to the State governments in February 2013, quoted the Supreme Court order which inter alia stated “Before actually exercising the power of remission under Section 432 of the CrPC the appropriate Government must obtain the opinion (with reasons) of the presiding judge of the convicting or confirming Court. Remission can, therefore, be given only on a case-by-case basis and not in a wholesale manner” It appears that the view of the presiding judge of the CBI court was not taken;
(3) In a case like this where the victim, her family and witnesses braved death threats and threats of physical harm in fighting the case and shifted residence repeatedly for safety, it was obligatory for the Gujarat government to ascertain how such a release would impact their lives. This was not done even though the victim and her supporters have often stated that they were threatened with violence by the convicts (who were liberally granted parole while in jail) as well as by the families and friends of the convicts. Bilkis has reportedly changed homes some 20 times over these years, because of threats to her life. With the celebrated release of the convicts from jail, the trauma, suffering and vulnerability to harm for Bilkis will be significantly heightened;
(4) It is also shocking that five out of ten members of the Advisory Committee, which sanctioned the early release, belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party, while the remaining are ex-officio members. This raises the important question of the impartiality and independence of the decision, and vitiat
In view of these glaring deviations from established law, departure from government policy and propriety, and the chilling impact that this release will have, not just on Bilkis Bano and her family and supporters, but also on the safety of all women in India, especially those who belong to minority and vulnerable communities, we urge you to rescind the order of remission passed by the Gujarat government and send the 11 persons convicted of gang rape and murder back to jail to serve out their life sentence
Following is the list of the Former Bureaucrats
1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI
2. Salahuddin Ahmad IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
3. S.P. Ambrose IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI
4. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
5. Mohinderpal Aulakh
IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Jails), Govt. of Punjab
6. Aruna Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI
7. J.L. Bajaj IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Administrative Reforms and
Decentralisation Commission, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
8. G Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
9. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
10. Gopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
11. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
12. Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.)
Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI
13. Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
14. T.K. Banerji IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
15. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
16. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
17. Pradip Bhattacharya IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal
18. Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
19. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
20. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
21. R.Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
22. K.M. Chandrasekhar IAS (Retd.) Former Cabinet Secretary, GoI
23. Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
24. Kalyani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal Chaudhuri
25. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
26. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
27. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
28. Vibha Puri Das IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI
29. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
30. Nareshwar Dayal IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
31. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
32. Nitin Desai Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
33. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
34. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
35. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
36. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy
37. Prabhu Ghate IAS (Retd.) Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI
38. Arif Ghauri IRS (Retd.) Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation)
39. Gourisankar Ghosh IAS (Retd.) Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI
40. Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI
41. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI
42. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab
43. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
44. Ravi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
45. Wajahat Habibullah IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner
46. Deepa Hari IRS (Resigned)
47. Vivek Harinarain IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Tamil Nadu
48. Sajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.) Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur
49. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
50. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology,GoI
51. Naini Jeyaseelan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
52. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
53. Vinod C. Khanna IFS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI
54. Dhirendra Krishna IA&AS (Retd.) Former Financial Controller, Irrigation Department, Govt. ofUttar Pradesh
55. Ajai Kumar IFoS (Retd.) Former Director, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI
56. Brijesh Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
57. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
58. Aloke B. Lal IPS (Retd.) Former Director General (Prosecution), Govt. of Uttarakhand
59. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI
60. Sunil Lal IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Brazil and former Ambassador to Spain
61. B.B. Mahajan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI
62. P.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI
63. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
64. Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
65. Lalit Mathur IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI
66. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
67. Dalip Mehta IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary to GoI & Dean, Foreign Service Institute
68. Shivshankar Menon IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former National SecurityAdviser
69. Sonalini Mirchandani IFS (Resigned) GoI
70. Malay Mishra IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Hungary
71. Sunil Mitra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
72. Noor Mohammad IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority,Govt. of India
73. Avinash Mohananey IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim
74. Geetmala Mohananey IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
75. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
76. Jugal Mohapatra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI
77. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
78. Shiv Shanka Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
79. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
80. Pranab S. Mukhopadhya IAS (Retd.) Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI
81. T.K.A. Nair IAS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Prime Minister of India
82. Sobha Nambisan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka
83. Ramesh Narayanaswami IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
84. Surendra Nath IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
85. P.A. Nazareth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Egypt and Mexico
86. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
87. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
88. Mira Pande IAS (Retd.) Former State Election Commissioner, West Bengal
89. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
90. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI
91. R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
92. Jayant Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Nepal
93. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
94. R.M. Premkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
95. Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
96. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
97. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
98. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
99. K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI
100. M.Y. Rao IAS (Retd.) Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI
102. Vijaya Latha Reddy
IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
103. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania
104. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned)
105. Manabendra N.Roy IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
106. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal
107. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
108. G. Sankaran IC&CES (Retd.) Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal
109. S. Satyabhama IAS (Retd.) Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI
110. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
111. A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI
112. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
113. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
114. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan
115. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat
116. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
117. Navrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia
118. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
119. Ajai Kumar Singh IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka
120. Mukteshwar Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission
121. Ramesh Inder Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Punjab and former Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab
122. Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, GoI
123. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
124. Tirlochan Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
125. A.K. Srivastava IAS (Retd.) Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal
126. Parveen Talha IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
127. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
128. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
129. Geetha Thoopal IRAS (Retd.) Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata
130. Hindal Tyabji IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
131. Jawed Usmani IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former
Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh
132. Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi
133. Ramani Venkatesan IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
134. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica
