The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled its May 2022 order – delivered by Justice Ajay Rastogi (retired) – which allowed the 11 men who raped Bilkis Bano, and murdered her family, during the 2002 Godhra riots, to appeal to the Gujarat government for early remission, which was granted.

The court said the order was “obtained through fraudulent means and suspension of facts” and rebuked the state for not filing a petition to review the convicts’ release. It said the Gujarat government should have noted the convicts could only be released by Maharashtra, where they were tried.

“By suppressing material facts and making misleading facts, a direction was sought by a convict to the state of Gujarat to consider remission. There was no direction from this court to the Gujarat government to consider remission. This is a fraud act…” the court said.

The court was referring to its hearing of a writ petition by one of the convicts – Radheyshyam Bhagwandas Shah – after the Gujarat High Court, in July 2019, refused his appeal to the state to decide on his remission. Under the law, he was required to appeal before the court, which somehow both accepted the writ petition and directed the Gujarat government to decide on the remission plea.