Earlier in the day, accusing the Gujarat government of abusing its power, the apex court quashed the remission to the men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 riots and ordered that they be sent back to jail within two weeks.

Reacting to the ruling, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said justice has ultimately prevailed. "With this order, the veil over the anti-women policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been removed. After this, public confidence in the justice system will be further strengthened. Congratulations to Bilkis Bano for continuing her fight bravely," she said in a post in Hindi on 'X'.

The Congress' media and publicity head Pawan Khera said the Supreme Court judgment quashing the release of the 11 rapists by the Gujarat government "exposes the BJP's callous disregard for women".

"It is a slap on the face of those who facilitated the illegal release of these criminals and also those who garlanded the convicts and fed sweets to them...," Khera said.

"India will not allow the administration of justice to be incumbent on the religion or the caste of the victim or the perpetrator of a crime," he added. In a post on 'X', the Congress said Bilkis Bano's rapists would go to jail again. The BJP government had got these rapists released, it said.

"This decision of the Supreme Court in the Bilkis Bano case is historic. This decision exposes the anti-women act of the BJP government of Gujarat in releasing the rapists of Bilkis Bano. This shows how disgusting the BJP's thinking is towards women," the party said in Hindi.

Holding a PIL challenging the remission as maintainable, the top court bench said the Gujarat government was not the appropriate authority to pass the remission order.