New Delhi: Days after the Supreme Court has ordered the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case back to jail, one of the convicts requested more time to surrender citing his health and family responsibilities.
The 55-year-old Govindbhai Nai was among those convicts who were released on Independence Day in 2022 after the Gujarat government's decision to grant them remission.
However, the apex court on January 8 cancelled the Gujarat government's munificence for the men who gang-raped Bilkis Bano and murdered seven members of her family, according to NDTV.
Those who were murdered in her family included her three-year-old daughter during the horrendous 2002 Gujarat riots.
The court directed the convicts, whose release sparked nationwide protest, to surrender by January 22.
Nai in his request to the Supreme Court claimed him to be a caregiver for his 88-year-old ailing father, who is bed-ridden, and75-year-old mother relying on him alongside being the support to his two children.
Further he cited health reasons of having asthma and a surgery he underwent recently.
Presenting his case, Nai claimed he had not violated any law since his release from jail and complied with terms and conditions on the release order.
Two of her children were only to survive the violence when her family was chased down and attacked; the 21-year-old Bilkis Bano was who pregnant at the time.
Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan in the landmark verdict said ‘The exercise of power by the state of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation of power and abuse of power. The rule of law must be preserved unmindful of the ripples of the consequences.’