Gujarat High Court Allows Seven-Day Parole for Convicted Bilkis Bano Rapist

In a recent decision, the Gujarat High Court approved a seven-day parole for Radheshyam Shah, who is serving a life term for his role in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang-rape and the killing of multiple relatives. The court, led by Justice Sanjeev J Thaker, weighed the arguments in Shah’s petition alongside remarks from jail officials, emphasizing the financial strain on his family as a key factor. Shah is required to furnish a personal bond of ₹10,000, adhere to mandatory police check-ins on days three and five, and surrender to the jail authorities at the end of the parole period.

The ruling follows a complex legal backdrop: convictions in 2008 upheld by the Bombay High Court in 2017, a Supreme Court dismissal of appeals the same year, and a 2024 Supreme Court reversal of a state-granted remission that had briefly released all eleven convicts. The Bilkis Bano case remains a landmark in the quest for accountability for the 2002 Gujarat communal violence.