The 11 men sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape case were released on 15th August
The 11 men sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape case were released on 15th August
Following approval of their pardon request by a commission set up by the Gujarat state government, the 11 men sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape case were released on Monday (August 15). Released from Godra Sub Prison.
According to Raj Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in the office of the President, factors such as the prisoner’s age, crime nature and conduct in prison were taken into account in determining whether immunity was granted.
Bilkis was brutally raped during the communal violence that followed the burning of the Gondola train. He was 21 years old and five months pregnant. Seven members of his family were killed by the mob.
Who is Bilkis Bano? What happened to her in 2002?
On February 28, 2002, the Sabarmati Express was set on fire, killing dozens of pilgrims and Kasewak at Gondola station. Following the incident, Bilkis fled the village of Radikpur in the Dahod district after violence broke out in the state. Return from Ayodhya. Bilkis was accompanied by her daughter Saleh, who was three and a half years old at the time, and her 15 family members.
They fled, fearing a repeat of the arson and looting that had been done to mark the Bakruids in the village a few days earlier. A group of people from her family travelled to her village, Chapparwad, on March 3, 2002. About 20 to 30 people armed with sickles, swords and sticks attacked them, according to the indictment.
Among the attackers he had 11 accused. Bilkis, her mother and her three other women were raped and brutally beaten. Of her 17-strong Muslim group in Radhikpur village, eight were found dead and six missing. Bilkis, a 3-year-old male, was the only one to survive the attack.
A three-hour period followed the attack before Bilkis was brought to consciousness. After regaining her consciousness, she borrowed her clothes from her Adivasi woman, met her home guard, and took her to the Limkeda Police Station.
In the days following her arrival at the Gondola relief camp, she filed a complaint with Chief Sgt. Bilkis was transported to a public hospital for a checkup. As a result of the investigation by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Supreme Court, the CBI was assigned to probe her case.
The CBI’s investigation into the Bilkis Bano case: what have they found?
The CBI concluded that the autopsy was sloppy to protect the defendants. CBI investigators said they exhumed the bodies of those killed in the attack and found none of the seven bodies had skulls.
The CBI said the body’s head had been severed after the autopsy, so the body’s identity could not be determined.
What was the process like in that case?
Then the trial case of Bilkis Bano was moved from Gujarat to Maharashtra after Bilkis Bano and his family received death threats. Mumbai courts have charged 19 of his men, including six police officers and a government doctor. In January 2008, a special court convicted her 11 defendants of conspiracy to rape a pregnant woman, murder, unlawful assembly, and other charges under the Indian Penal Code. The Chief Constable was convicted of “false recordings” to save the accused. Seven were acquitted due to a lack of evidence. One person died in the process.
The court ruled that Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai and her (deceased) Naresh Kumar Mordhiya raped Bilkis and that Shailesh Bhatt murdered her daughter Saleh by “thumping” her to the ground. Other prisoners include Radheshyam Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Vohania, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Nitesh Bhatt, Ramesh Chandana, and Police Chief Somabhai Gori.
Despite being witnesses to the crime (other than Gori), these defendants were allegedly convicted of rape and murder because their belonging to an “illegal assembly” shared responsibility for the crime. The court found that the court sentenced all 11 prisoners to life imprisonment.
What happened after that?
In May 2017, the Bombay High Court upheld 11 convictions and life sentences against him in a gang rape case, overturning his 7 acquittals, including a school combination of a police officer and a doctor. In April 2019, the High Court ordered the Gujarat government to pay Bilkis his Rs 50,000 compensation within two weeks.
She refused to accept compensation of 5,000 rupees and asked the Supreme Court for exemplary compensation from the state government. Some of those convicted in the Bilkis her Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots were good ‘sanskars’ or ‘brahmins’ with values and were arrested for past family activities. There is a possibility. A state government commission said it had recommended orders to all 11 of her convicted men.
MLA CK Raulji of the Ghoda-based Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Thursday he did not know whether prisoners released after serving more than 15 years were involved in the crime. On August 15, all 11 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape and the murder of seven members of her family during community unrest were sentenced to death in Gujarat.
He was released from Godra Sub-prison after being granted permission by the BJP government. Part of its return policy. ” An order issued by the Supreme Court prompted us to make the decision. We were asked to investigate their (inmates’) behaviour and make a decision (about their early release),” he said.
“We asked the guards and found out that they behaved well in prison. … Also (some of the prisoners) are Brahmins. Lawmakers of the ruling party expressed their satisfaction with their sanskar (values).
The Gujarat government’s decision has been heavily criticized by opposition parties, who said the move was against the Center’s guidelines.
However, Mr Raoulji said the prisoners may have been arrested. “They (prisoners) may have been brought into the case because of past family activities.
It happens that bystanders are named in such riots. But we don’t know if they committed a crime or not, but we made a decision based on their behaviour (by remission). The Gujarat government released 11 prisoners after the Supreme Court ordered them to consider requests for relief under the state’s 1992 enactment policy. did. On January 21, 2008, his CBI Special Court in Mumbai sentenced all 11 members of riot survivor Bilkisvano’s family, all 11 of whom were charged with murdering and gang-raping, to life imprisonment.
After her conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court, she was sentenced to death. These prisoners served more than 15 years in prison, after which one of them appealed to the Supreme Court for early release. The High Court ordered the Gujarat government to consider the issue of amnesty under the 1992 policy, based on the date of his conviction. The government then formed a commission to decide on the release of all prisoners.
On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano’s family was attacked by a mob in Randhikpur village, Taluka Limkheda, Dahod district. Bilkis was five months pregnant at the time and was gang-raped during a riot caused by the Gondola train fire, killing seven family members.
IAS officers’ reaction:
IAS officials affiliated with the Telangana cadre said 11 men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing her five-year-old daughter and 13 others in the 2002 Gujarat riots were released. He expressed his shock. Smita Sabharwal, popularly known as The People’s Officer, said she was incredulous as the woman and officer who read the release of those convicted in the Bilkis Bano case.
“As a woman and as an officer, I cannot believe reading the news of the #BilkisBano case,” she tweeted in 2001, an IAS officer.
”It would be better for me if you returned my right to live without…”
Sabharwal also released a statement from Bilkis Bano’s lawyer on behalf of the survivors, she said the release of those convicted had shaken their faith in justice and taken them by surprise.
“On August 15, 2022, when I heard that the 11 convicted men who devastated my family and life and took my 3-year-old daughter from me were set free, the last 20 years. ‘s trauma hit me again,” her lawyer, Soba, said in a statement. “I couldn’t find the words. I’m still dazed.”
She called on the Gujarat government to “undo this damage” and restore the right to “live in peace without fear”.
The release of those convicted under the old warrant policy of 1992 sparked public outrage, with many calling for the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter. Senior parliamentary leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jairam Ramesh criticized the Bharat Janata Party (BJP), saying no decision was taken without the consent of the central government.
The controversy intensified after her BJP MLA, part of the state government commission that recommended her release, said some of the prisoners were virtuous ‘sanskars’ or ‘brahmins’ with values.
C K Raulji, his BJP MLA in Godhra, said he did not know if the prisoners were involved in the crime.
“We made the decision based on a Supreme Court order. We were asked to investigate their (inmates’) behaviour and make a decision (about their early release),” Raoulji said. told news portal MoJo. “We asked the guards and found out that they behaved well in prison…also (some of the prisoners) are Brahmins. I have,” he added.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
