NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court directed the accused in the Bilkis Bano case to surrender immediately. Strict instructions have been given to the accused to surrender on Sunday itself. Dismissing the petition for an extension of time, the court pointed out that the demands raised by the defendants were baseless. The petition was disposed of in five minutes.

The Gujarat government acquitted 11 accused in the case of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven members of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The court considered this in the petition filed by Bilkis Bano against this. Petitions filed by several political and civil rights activists along with Bilkis Bano were also heard today.

The case was heard by a bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagaratna. On March 22, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had directed the matter for urgent listing and asked for constitution of a new bench to hear the petition. Earlier, Justice Trivedi had recused himself from hearing the petition. On November 30, Bilkis Bano filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the release of the accused. The Gujarat government released the accused on August 15.