New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 9) said that notices should be published in an English and a Gujarati newspaper to secure the responses of some of the 11 convicts released in the Bilkis Bano case. This was in response to complaints that the convicts could not be found in their addresses to be served notices, The Telegraph reported.Bilkis Bano’s lawyer, advocate Shobha Gupta, had told the bench of Justices K.M. Joseph, B.V. Nagarathna and Ahsanuddin Amanullah that fresh notices could not be served on the convicts because they were not at their known addresses. Earlier too, while Gupta said the formal notices had been delivered, the convicts’ lawyers had countered by saying they were not in town so did not receive them.The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Joseph, when earlier asked for an adjournment by the defence lawyers because notices had not reached the convicts, alleged that the defence was trying to defer the hearings until after Justice Joseph’s retirement. This appears to have come true, as the matter is now set for hearing on July 10. Justice Joseph retires on June 16.Gupta said that even the police was not able to trace the convicts and deliver the notices, and relatives available at their homes were not willing to accept the notices. “These people are on remission. Our concern is that these people should at least report fortnightly at the local police stations. The rule precisely says that if there is a criminal case, warrant can be issued. Please see Sections 64 and 65 of CrPC,” she said.In May 2022, a bench led by Justice Ajay Rastogi had allowed the Gujarat government to take a call on the remission requests made by the convicts, stating that the offence took place in Gujarat. Following this, on August 15, 2022, the convicts were released prematurely by the Gujarat government, leading to a huge backlash against the decision. Bano had moved Supreme Court in December 2022 seeking a review of the Gujarat government’s decision, which is now under consideration.Bilkis was gang-raped and her three-year-old daughter was among 14 people killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district during the riots.