All 11 convicts serving life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case were released from Godhra sub-jail. They has been released under the remission policy of the Gujarat government.
Earlier on January 21, 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai sentenced 11 accused to life imprisonment for the gang rape and murder of seven family members of Bilkis Bano. Their sentence was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.
These convicts had served more than 15 years in jail, after which one of them had approached the Supreme Court seeking his premature release. The apex court had directed the Gujarat government to look into the issue of his remission, following which the government constituted a committee. The committee unanimously decided in favor of releasing all the 11 convicts in the case. The recommendation was sent to the state government and orders for his release were issued yesterday.
Bilkis Bano was attacked after the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Seven members of the family of Bilkis Bano, who lived in Randhikpur, Ahmedabad, were killed during the attack. Bilkis was only 19 at the time and five months pregnant.
The family of Bilkis Bano expressed surprise over the release of the convicts. Bano’s husband Yakub Rasool said, I am shocked. We got news from the media about the release of the convicts. Me, my wife and five sons, the eldest of whom is now 20 years old. After the accident, he has been living the life of a nomad for more than 20 years. After that accident we have never lived in one place at one address. I am surprised that under which order the government took this decision. When did these people go to court because we never got any notice. We don’t even know anything about all this.
‘I Fear For Our Future’: Bilkis Bano’s Husband Says on Release of 11 Convicts
Speaking to The Wire, Bilkis’s husband Yakub Rasul said, “Our entire house is grieving the judgement, we had no idea that this was happening. We we were not given any notice that this will be happening.”
He added, “We are now scared of what will happen. We are not sure as to what we will do now because we feel that there is no hope. There is nothing left for us to do now.”
The opposition targeted the BJP over the release of all the culprits of Bilkis Bano, saying, this is the real face of PM Modi’s new India. PM Modi was praising women power from the Red Fort on the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. Is this the respect that the BJP talks about giving to women? Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, PM Modi should tell the country whether he himself believes in his words.
On Tuesday, the day after his release, a 63-year-old convict Shailesh Bhatt said, “We have all been victims of politics. Shailesh said, we were arrested in 2004 and spent more than 18 years in jail.”
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