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WEB DESK

The Supreme Court has fixed August 7 for the start of the final hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted last year to all the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan on Monday noted that the pleadings have been completed and notices served on all the convicts.

“We hold that pleadings in the matter are complete and all the respondents have been served notices in all the cases though newspaper publications or directly. We list the matter for final hearing on August 7. All parties should file short written submissions, synopsis and list of dates,” the bench said.

During the hearing, advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for Bilkis Bano, said notices were published in local newspapers on June 1 and she had filed an affidavit with regard to that on June 7.