The Aryavarth Express
Agency(New Delhi): The Gujarat High Court recently authorized a 10-day parole for Ramesh Chandana, a convict in the Bilkis Bano case, so he can participate in his nephew’s wedding on March 5.
Chandana petitioned the High Court for this leave last week, making him the second individual in this case to be granted parole. Previously, all 11 convicts had surrendered at a Godhra jail on January 21, in compliance with a Supreme Court directive.
These individuals were found guilty of the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her relatives amid the 2002 Godhra riots. “In response to the convict’s application, which requested parole to attend his sister’s son’s marriage ceremony, a ten-day parole leave has been sanctioned,” Justice Divyesh Joshi declared in the ruling issued last Friday.
According to the Gujarat government’s statement to the Supreme Court, since Chandana’s imprisonment in 2008, he has been granted parole for a total of 1,198 days and a furlough spanning 378 days. Earlier, another convict from this case, Pradip Modhiya, was released from Godhra jail on parole from February 7 to 11, following the high court’s approval of his parole application.
In August 2022, 11 convicts, who were serving life sentences, were prematurely released from jail after the state government approved their remission requests based on their ‘good conduct’ in prison. This decision was in line with the government’s 1992 policy. However, the Supreme Court overturned these releases on January 8, stating that the state government did not have the authority to grant early release to the convicts, as the trial was conducted in Maharashtra. Consequently, the Supreme Court ordered these individuals, who had initially been freed from the Godhra district jail on Independence Day 2022 after 14 years in prison, to return to jail within two weeks.
They complied with this order and surrendered to the authorities at the Godhra jail on January 21.