The Supreme Court was informed by the Centre and the Gujarat government that they would waive any claims of privilege with regard to the information pertaining to the commutation of the sentences of 11 convicts in the 2002 post-Godhra riots case involving the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her seven family members and agreed to place the original records before the court for its perusal.
During the previous hearing on April 18, the government had claimed privilege and sought adjournment of hearing on the ground that it was intending to seek review of the SC’s order to place the original files before the court.
Even when the government made it clear that it would not request a review, the hearing in the case could not continue since one inmate had not yet received notice and other convicts requested an adjournment so they could respond to Bilkis' plea.
Bilkis' lawyer Shobha Gupta argued that the release of the convicts caused a miscarriage of justice and that justice must be restored as soon as possible in opposition to the convicts' attorneys, who requested an adjournment and said there was no rush for an early hearing in the case. She pleaded the court not to allow them to disrupt the proceedings in the case and submitted that hearing be done. But it was strongly opposed by the other side which contended that the court cannot proceed without serving notice to the parties.
Amidst war of words between both sides, a bench of Justices K M Joseph asked the parties to maintain decorum and not to treat the courtroom as a marketplace. Advocate Sanjay Tyagi, appearing for one convict, said that Shobha Gupta had filed a false affidavit by alleging that all convicts had been served with the notice.