Within days of surrender, Bikis Bano convict wins parole
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Dahoid/Gujarat: Gujarat High Court gave five-day parole to a convict in the Bilkis Bano case only in a matter of days after all the convicts surrendered before the jail authorities following Supreme Court orders, PTI reported.
Police informed that the convict Pradip Modhiya, a resident of Dahod district, who was lodged in the Godhra district jail, was granted parole due to his father-in-law’s death.
Last month, the Supreme Court had ordered the 11 convicts of the 2002 post-Godhra riot case of gang rape of Gujarat woman Bilkis Bano and murder of her seven relatives to surrender after quashing the remission of their sentence. The convicts hail from Singvad and Randhikpur villages under Singvad taluka of Dahod district neighbouring Panchmahal district, where Godhra is located.
“The Gujarat High Court has given a five-day parole to one convict, Pradip Modhiya, due to the death of his father-in-law. This is between the court and jail as they are in judicial custody,” Deputy Superintendent of Police of Dahod district Visakha Jain said.
“He does not have to report to the police,” she said.
Sources in Godhra district jail, where the convicts are lodged, said they have released Modhiya on parole on the High Court orders.
Judge M R Mengdey allowed a five-day parole for Modhiya instead of the one month sought by him in his application filed before the HC, citing the death of his father-in-law.
The Gujarat government granted the 11 convicts premature release from jail in August 2022, accepting their remission applications. The government claimed to do so in accordance with its 1992 policy and cited that they were released due to their ‘good conduct’ inside the jail.
The convicts were released by the Godhra district jail on August 15 2022.
Annulling their remission, the Supreme Court slammed the Gujarat High Court on January 8 for being complicit with the accused and abusing its discretion. The top court ruled that the Gujarat government lacked jurisdiction to grant premature release to the convicts since the case was tried in Maharashtra. The court ordered the convicts to surrender in two weeks.