Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday said a special bench would be constituted to hear the writ petition filed by Bilkis Bano challenging the Gujarat government’s premature release of 11 convicts who gang-raped her and murdered seven members of her family during the post-Godhra riots in 2002.

The Supreme Court bench, which also included Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, gave the assurance to advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis.

“Madam, I will have a bench constituted. We will have a look at it today evening,” the CJI said.

Earlier, the matter had come up for repeated mentionings for urgent hearing by the counsel but it had irked the CJI. On December 15, CJI Chandrachud lost his temper over the repeated pleas for early hearing of Bilkis’s appeal by Gupta.

“Madam the writ will be listed. Please do not keep mentioning the same thing again and again. It is very irritating. Don’t keep on mentioning his matter all the time. Every day you mention the same matter,” a visibly annoyed CJI Chandrachud had said.

The court was upset as the counsel had mentioned the matter for urgent hearing on two other earlier occasions.