On Friday, the Gujarat High Court approved a 10-day parole for Ramesh Chandana, who was convicted in the Bilkis Bano case. This permission allows him to attend his nephew's wedding, which is set to take place on March 5th.

Last week, Chandana, who filed a petition with the High Court seeking parole, became the second convict in the case to be granted temporary release. This decision came after all 11 convicts surrendered at a jail in Godhra town on January 21 in compliance with a Supreme Court order.

They were convicted in a case involving the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots.

"By this application, the convict-applicant prays for parole leave on the grounds of attending the marriage ceremony of the son of his sister. Taking into consideration the grounds urged in this application, the applicant-accused is ordered to be released on parole leave for a period of ten days," said Justice Divyesh Joshi in his order issued on Friday.

According to the Gujarat government's affidavit submitted before the Supreme Court, Chandana had been granted parole for a total of 1,198 days and had also received furlough for 378 days since his imprisonment began in 2008. Previously, another convict in the case, Pradip Modhiya, was released from the Godhra jail on parole from February 7th to 11th after the high court granted his parole request.

In August 2022, the state government granted premature release from jail to 11 convicts serving life sentences, based on their 'good conduct' during imprisonment and in accordance with its 1992 policy. However, on January 8, the Supreme Court overturned this decision, ruling that the state government did not have the authority to grant premature release since the trial for the 2002 case took place in Maharashtra, not Gujarat.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling, the convicts, who had been released from the Godhra district jail on Independence Day in 2022 after serving 14 years in prison, were ordered to return to jail within two weeks. They surrendered to the Godhra jail authorities on January 21.