SC to hear plea challenging remission of convicts in Bilkis case on May 9

From deferring to hearing a plea in connection with the remission of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case to The Kerala Story controversy, here's a look at important cases heard in SC today

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard some important cases which included hearing a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted to the 11 convicts last year in the case of the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 post-Godhra riots. The case has been deferred for hearing on May 9. 

The court said, "We are only fixing timelines so that whichever court takes up the matter will not have to waste time on these procedural issues. I am retiring during the vacation on June 16. My last working day will be May 19. My sister (Justice Nagarathna) will be going attending a conference in Singapore till May 25. If all of you agree, we can sit during the vacation and finish hearing the case," Justice Joseph said.

In another hearing, the apex court was apprised by the Centre that it was considering setting up a committee of experts to examine the prevalent mode of execution of death row convicts by hanging in the country.

Apart from these cases, here is a list of some of the other cases heard by the apex court today:

• The top court dismissed the pleas by the Delhi Police against the bail granted in June 2021 to three student activists in a case related to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, saying they are out on bail for almost two years and it sees no purpose in keeping the matter alive.

• It refused to entertain a plea seeking a stay on the release of the movie “The Kerala Story”. The plea sought a stay on the grounds that it's a "worst kind of hate speech” and an “audio-visual propaganda”

• The court said it will hear on May 8 a plea of the Delhi government challenging the power of the Lieutenant Governor to nominate 10 members to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and sought the quashing of their nomination.

• The apex court asked former apex court judge Justice L Nageswara Rao to prepare a report by July 31 on finalisation of the constitution of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) after taking note of objections to the draft document by various stakeholders.

• It said that its order staying the Uttarakhand High Court's directions for the removal of encroachments from 29 acres of land claimed by the railways in Haldwani will continue during the pendency of petitions in the matter before it.

• Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind moved the top court seeking a direction to the Centre and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to not allow the screening and release of the movie "The Kerala Story" at theatres and on OTT platforms.

Here is a list of some of the crucial cases heard by the Delhi High Court:

• The High Court directed the reissuing of a minor's passport after deleting from the travel document the name of his father who "completely deserted" him. 

• The court said it cannot direct the government to pass or finalise the Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which proposes to ban screening procedure in nursery admissions in schools

• Delhi High Court said the Enforcement Directorate will be "bound" by its stand that there would be no coercive action at this stage against D K Shivakumar as it deferred hearing on the Karnataka Congress chief's petition against a money laundering probe by the agency. 

• The HC dismissed a plea by Vishal Yadav seeking parole to pursue the filing of an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging his conviction and life sentence in the killing of business executive Nitish Katara in 2002. 

• The court refused to interfere with the demolition of jhuggis near Pragati Maidan here and granted a month's time to its occupants to vacate the premises. 

• The high court asked the police to file a chart detailing the role assigned to Shahrukh Pathan, who had allegedly pointed a gun at a policeman, and other accused in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots case.