The Supreme Court of India has refused to extend the deadline for 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape and murder case to surrender. The convicts were given the deadline of January 21 to report to jail and serve their life imprisonment sentence. However, they had sought an extension, citing medical problems and family responsibilities. The bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan quickly dismissed their plea, stating that their reasons were not justified. The court emphasized that their reasons did not prevent them from complying with the court’s directions. The convicts, including Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah, Jaswantbhai Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana, have been instructed to surrender by Sunday.

The apex court had previously quashed the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to the convicts and ordered them to surrender. This decision came in response to Bilkis, who had challenged their remission. The court found fault not only with the Gujarat government’s decision but also with the Supreme Court’s 2022 order that triggered the remission process. The court noted that convict Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah had obtained the 2022 order by misleading the court and hiding various facts. Shah had previously filed a remission plea before the Maharashtra government, and all authorities, including the special CBI court, had rejected the request for premature release.

Bilkis Bano, who was 21 years old and five months pregnant at the time, was brutally gang-raped, and her family, including a two-day-old infant, was murdered during the 2002 Gujarat communal riots. Her three-year-old daughter was also killed by smashing her head on a rock.