A sense of joy and hope spread across activists and women groups in India January 8 after the Supreme Court set aside the Gujarat government’s premature release of 11 convicted in a gangrape case.
The apex court termed the Gujarat government order a “fraud act” and asked the convicts to surrender in two weeks and return to jail.
“The verdict brings to the entire nation a silver line of hope in the judiciary. People’s trust in the judiciary increased,” says Sister Jessy Kurian, a lawyer who was present when the apex court pronounced its decision.
Sounding the same sentiments, Teesta Setalvad, secretary of the Citizens for Justice and Peace that works for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots, says the apex court has “re-validated the ordinary citizens’ faith in its commitment to the rule of law, the Indian Constitution.”
She noted that the court quashed the Gujarat government’s “brazen conduct” in passing the remission orders, set aside the Gujarat High Court judgement that endorsed the government decision and turned down the federal home ministry’s role in allowing convicts to walk free.