“The Gujarat government, granting remission to those convicted for gang-rape and murder in Bilkis Bano case, and looking away from the cases of Muslims convicted in the Godhra train burning case, exposes its dual standards,” Supreme Court Lawyer Paras Nath Singh told The Quint.
Last week, while granting bail to Farook -- one of the 31 convicted in the 2002 Godhra train burning case -- the Supreme Court had noted on 15 December that his role was that of stone pelting and he had already spent 17 years in jail for it.
Nearly two months ago, on 10 October, the top court had asked the Gujarat government to file an affidavit clarifying if Farook would be eligible under the government’s remission policy.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli had said in their order:
“In order to enable the Court to have a proper perspective of the matter, we grant an opportunity to the State of Gujarat to file a counter affidavit which shall also clarify the position on two additional issues, namely:
(i) The conduct of the applicant in jail; and
(ii) Whether the applicant would be entitled to the benefit of the remission
policy which has been framed by the State of Gujarat.”
It is worth noting that the government is yet to file an affidavit answering the court’s questions.