Bilkis Bano Lawyer, Adv Shobha Gupta Promoted To Senior Position

The Supreme Court of India headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud elevated 56 lawyers to senior positions on January 19. Out of the 11 women that were designated, one is Advocate-on-Record (AoR) Shobha Gupta, who was the force behind Bilkis Bano's road to justice. 54-year-old Gupta has taken up several human rights and women-related issues and recently earned praise for standing firmly aside Bilkis Bano through the latest developments in her case. On January 8, the Supreme Court ordered the immediately re-incarcerate the 11 convicts who were given remission in August 2022.

On Independence Day 2022, the 11 convicts in Bilkis Bano's case were given remission by the Gujarat government, causing distress and outrage in the entire nation. However, the recent SC verdict came as a sigh of relief to Bilkis Bano as well as the justice system. In a 2019 interview with SheThePeople, Bilkis Bano's representative, AoR Shobha Gupta talked about her journey with the case.

Force Behind Bilkis Bano's Road To Justice

Along with the Gujarat riots 2002 and gang rape survivor Bilkis Bano, AoR Gupta felt relieved and at peace when the Supreme Court recently ordered the Gujarat government to pay Rs 50 Lakh exemplary compensation to Bano. With this judgment, not only was justice served in its entirety but it is also the largest amount of exemplary compensation awarded to a survivor of communal and sexual violence in history. Advocate Shobha fought the case with grit and determination since the time she took it up in 2003.

When SheThePeople asked her what made her take up the case, the lawyer with over 16 years of experience responded, “The case was so painful and what Bilkis had gone through was so gross that I was more than willing to take it up.”

AoR Gupta recounted the incident, “Justice AS Anand was the chairperson of NHRC at the time and he had come across the closure report of this case, he was immensely disturbed by the report. He was disturbed, because in Bilkis’ papers, her complaint, had a self-narrated account of what had happened, she had named the accused persons. However, her closure report said that her FIR is unnamed, the accused persons are not traceable and therefore it was closed and the magistrate had accepted it."

"I had heard about the Gujarat riots and the atrocities that had happened with concern, as a citizen, as a lawyer and in my personal capacity. So, the moment we collected all the papers, and after speaking to a local lawyer of Gujarat, and speaking with the NGOs who were associated with her since the beginning, we decided to file a writ petition,” she said.

The only thing left then was to adopt the long-drawn course of challenging the magistrate’s order and take it up first with the additional district judge then to the High Court and then finally to the Supreme Court. 

Adding further AoR Gupta said, “The question was also if we should take the long course of statutory provision available in law or invoke extraordinary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court? After looking at the facts of this case and the gravity of the crime and knowing fully well that it would take several years, we thought it appropriate to take a chance and invoke extraordinary jurisdiction (Article 32) and we hoped that it would be accepted.”

Victory In Pieces

It took over two decades years of consistent effort and a well-put fight that gave Bano the justice that she deserved. Through these years, many victories kept coming AoR Gupta and Bano’s way. These include: 

• In 2008, when the trial court convicted the 11 persons of life sentence
• In 2017 when the Bombay High Court upheld the trial court judgment. 
• The HC also overturned the acquittals of seven Police officers and doctors—convicted for evidence tampering with intent to screen offenders and save them from punishment.
• In 2024, when the apex court ordered the convict to be sent back to jail, and also denied their plea for more time to surrender.

Knowing Bilkis Through Gupta

"We as lawyers come across several cases but hers is one of the gravest. Initially, when we met in Delhi, when she came to  file the affidavit for the writ petition in 2003, I remember during those days she preferred not to speak at all."

About the extraordinary courage that Bilkis showed throughout the proceedings of the case and when she first met her, Gupta said, “Initially, I considered her as someone who needs to be protected by us even though she is a brave woman and an inspiration for all of us. We as lawyers come across several cases but hers is one of the gravest. Initially, when we met in Delhi, when she came to file the affidavit for the writ petition in 2003, I remember during those days she preferred not to speak at all."

"She had suffered an acute level of trauma. I don’t know whether she had any hope left then or not but she was very persuasive. All along she knew that she had to fight it out and that determination used to instil confidence in all of us, we knew that the system had failed her totally so now we cannot fail her.”

There is no dearth of respect and salutations for Bano or the NGOs and the organisations that helped her put up this brave fight. But, AoR Gupta's sheer resistance against the corrupt state machinery, and resilience in ensuring that Bano gets the highest compensation along with actions taken against all the convicts in the case, shouldn’t go unnoticed.