Supreme Court Justice Bela M Trivedi will not be hearing Bilkis Bano’s plea challenging the premature release of the 11 people convicted of gang-rape, and for the murder of her kin, during the 2002 Gujarat Riots. On Tuesday, 13 December, Justice Trivedi recused from hearing the plea.
But what happened? According to LiveLaw, the plea was listed before a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela Trivedi. Once the matter was taken up Justice Rastogi informed Bilkis Bano’s lawyer Shobha Gupta about Justice Trivedi’s recusal. Further, he said:
"List the matter before a bench which one of us is not a part of”.