'It's very irritating': CJI Chandrachud over multiple listing requests of Bilkis Bano's petition

Bilkis Bano’s case was listed twice before and both petitions filed by her were listed before two different benches of the court on Tuesday.

The matter came up after Justice Bela Trivedi, one of the judges hearing the writ petition, recused herself from hearing the case on Tuesday.

After Justice Trivedi opted out, the Chief Justice has to set up a new bench to hear Bilkis Bano's petition. A case was directed to set up a new bench for hearing the petition of which Justice Trivedi isn’t a part.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, at the beginning of the hearing on Wednesday, said the case was already listed before the court.

However, Bilkis Bano’s lawyer submitted before the bench headed by the Chief Justice that the case wasn’t heard on Tuesday as one of the judges opted out.

On this, the CJI said, "Don’t keep on mentioning this matter all the time. It's very irritating. Every day you mention the same matter. It will come up now."

Apart from the writ petition, Bilkis Bano has filed a review petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court’s May 2022 order that granted bail to the 11 men accused of gang rape and murder.

The case was also listed before Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath in chambers on Wednesday.

The 11 convicts were freed on August 15, Independence Day, by the Gujarat government.

Bilkis Bano was 21 and pregnant when she was gang-raped by the men, who killed nine members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, during the riots that ravaged Gujarat after the Godhra train carnage in which 59 pilgrims died.