Justice Umesh Dattatray Salvi, who had sentenced 11 men to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and her family members murder case during the Gujarat riots in 2002, said this offence was proved after accessing the facts and the state government was entitled to execute the punishment. He said, “The remission is also a part of their job and the state is authorised to do that but there is a process for it.”

He added, "The state government is a machinery that is bound by the constitution and it has to consider the facts whether the justice was done or not in the case. The peculiar fact of this case is that it occurred as a part of a communal riot, therefore it has an impact on public perception also. It is not an individual act or a crime between two persons but it was between citizens, hence that public perception needs to be kept in mind. It should have been more considerate before granting a remission."