At a time when a Supreme Court bench of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice BV Nagarathna is scheduled to hear the plea challenging the release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano case on Friday, September 9, a similar controversy surrounding remission and re-arrest of convicts is worth recalling.
The incident pertains to another BJP government in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. Over a decade ago, in 2011, the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government had come under immense pressure from various Hindu interest groups over the remission granted to five SIMI members who were among more than 600 beneficiaries released from prisons across the state.
The five SIMI members were in jail since 2008. They were convicted for holding a training camp in Unhel in the Ujjain district. Having spent more than 31 months in captivity and considered having maintained good conduct during their stay in jail, they had become eligible for remission.
The VHP and the Bajrang Dal were quick to start agitation against the Government against the decision. The popular outrage was getting shriller with the effigies of the then-home minister and prison officials burning on the streets by the right-wing activists. The protestors threatened to lodge a criminal case against jail officials for the premature release of whom they called ‘anti-national elements’.
The Shivraj Singh government was in a tight spot, especially because it was the BJP government. They could not afford to be seen diluting the Hard Hindutva. The protests were picking up in Indore, Ujjain and the communally sensitive Malwa region.
Unlike the Gujarat government now, whose response to the crisis is a studied silence and a prolonged one at that, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had proactively ordered the re-arrest of the released prisoners.
The MP government, playing to the gallery and in a flagrant violation of laid down rules and guidelines re-arrested the five within nine days after their release. To manage the perception of acting on public mood, they also transferred senior police and jail officials and a bureaucrat, even suspending a junior jail official.
It is another matter that to the government’s embarrassment, six months later, the high court termed the re-arrest of SIMI members a serious violation of law and ordered their release.
The MP Government had changed the rules with retrospective effect making those convicted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act ineligible for the annual amnesty.
It remains to be seen how the Gujarat government responds to the growing chorus against the release of the gang rape and murder convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. The 11 men were in jail for gangraping Bilkis Bano and killing all her family members, including her three-year-old daughter by smashing her head in front of her eyes.
Also Read: SC To Hear Plea Against Remission of Bilkis Bano’s Rapists