By India Blooms News Service Oct 18, 2022
New Delhi/IBNS: The 11 men convicted of gangraping Bilkis Bano during a communal clash in 2002 were released as they had been in jail for 14 years and their behaviour was found to be good, the Gujarat Government told the Supreme Court.
The apex court is hearing three petitions challenging the release of the men, who walked out of the prison on Independence Day.
In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Gujarat government said the Union Home Ministry had approved the premature release through a letter dated 11.07.2022.
The convicts were released under an outdated remission policy, which triggered a huge political controversy.
Bilkis Bano has said she was not consulted or informed about the decision.
CPM Politburo member Subhashini Ali, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and one other person challenged the release in court.
The release of the convicts has triggered a political firestorm with the Opposition slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules Gujarat, and its supreme leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had stressed womens issues in his customary Independence Day speech.
A group linked to the BJP was also seen garlanding the convicts when they walked out of the jail.
A BJP MLA added fuel to the row saying the convicts were Brahmins with good sanskar.
The controversy reached its peak after Justice UD Salvi, who had convicted the 11 men and sentenced them to a life term in jail by a special court in Mumbai, also raised questions on the release.
Bilkis Bano, who was five-month pregnant in 2002, was gang-raped while fleeing the violence which broke out during the Godhra train carnage.
Days after the release, the survivor had said the state governments order had shaken her belief in the justice system.