The seven convicts had filed their appeals and sought bail pending the disposal of appeals against the verdict of life imprisonment given to them by the trial court in 2008.

The High Court had already admitted an appeal filed by the CBI, seeking death penalty for three of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case. On March 3, 2002, during the post Godhra riots, the family of Bilkis Bano was attacked by a mob in Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad in Gujarat.