The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the plea of two life convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and mass murders case challenging the January 8 judgment of the top court quashing the premature release of all the 11 convicts by the Gujarat government.

The two convicts — Radheshyam Shah and Rajubhai Soni — through their advocate Rishi Malhotra had questioned the judgment passed by the apex court on January 8 on the ground that the two-judge bench did not have the power to overrule the decision of another two-judge bench which on May 22, 2023, had asked the government to consider their premature release plea.

A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar refused to buy the argument and termed the petition “absolutely misconceived”.

“What is the plea? We can’t sit in appeal over an order passed by another bench,” Justice Khanna orally observed, while refusing to entertain the plea.