New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the conviction of IPS officer R.S. Bhagora, who was sentenced in the Gujarat riots Bilkis Bano Gangrape case observing that there is no urgency in the matter.
A vacation bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Deepak Gupta told counsel for the petitioner that since the convicted officer had already undergone the sentence, there is no need to stay conviction at this stage. Counsel said that if the conviction is not stayed, then he will be terminated from the service as per service rules. He said the court should grant stay on the conviction.
The bench while refusing to grant early hearing told the counsel that the fine amount is only Rs 15,000. It posted the matter for listing in the second week of July. According to the prosecution, on March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano’s family was attacked by a mob at Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad during the post-Godhra riots and seven members of her family were killed. Bilkis Bano, who was five months pregnant at the time, was gangraped.
The convicts had, however, contended that all evidence in the case was fabricated by CBI and the fact that Bilkis gave birth to a child after the incident proves that she could not have been gangraped.
