New Delhi: About a month after the Supreme Court reprimanded the Gujarat government with respect to the premature release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, the government has moved the court asking for a review of its January 8 order and sought removal of the “adverse comments,” as per a report published in LiveLaw.In its appeal, the Gujarat government stated that the comments in the judgement related to the case were “not only highly unwarranted and against the record of the case, but has caused serious prejudice to the State”. The government also underlined that the Supreme Court’s order holding the state guilty of “usurpation of power” and “abuse of discretion” for complying with an order of another top court bench, was an “error apparent on the face of the record,” as per a PTI report.On January 8, the Supreme Court bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had observed that while the Gujarat government had acted on the basis of the direction issued by the Supreme Court, it was contrary to the letter and spirit of law. It also said that Gujarat had “acted in tandem and was complicit with” the convicts.The bench, according to LiveLaw had ruled that the order had been obtained by Radheshyam Shah, one of the convicts, by playing fraud on the court and misrepresenting or suppressing material facts.The court was referring to an earlier ruling delivered by Justice Ajay Rastogi (now retired) on May 2022.Also read: Bilkis Bano Convicts: Who Is Accountable for the ‘Fraud’ by Gujarat Government?In response to Shah’s writ petition, the Supreme Court had in May 2022 held State of Gujarat to be the appropriate government for considering the remission plea. Following this May 2022 order, a series of developments took place which resulted in the release of all 11 life convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.On January 8, the court noted that the convicts’ release had been ordered based on Gujarat’s 1992 remission policy, which had been superseded by a 2014 law, and ordered the 11 convicts to surrender within two weeks.In 2002, Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and pregnant when she was gang-raped during the Gujarat riots; 7 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter was killed.