Bilkis Bano & Freed Gang Rape Murder-Convicts: An Explainer

Bilkis Bano, the victim of a horrendous gangrape that scarred her physically, mentally, and emotionally is once again scared with no hope in sight. Her 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, are now released after serving just 14 years in prison. 

But who is Bilkis Bano? What happened with her? What is behind the controversial release of her 11 gangrape convicts? And, is there really no hope in sight?

Here’s everything you need to know:

Who is Bilkis Bano?

The 28 February 2002 horrific train blazing incident that killed 59 Hindu pilgrims sparked a communal riot that would go on to cost 1000+ lives, with over 25,000 injured, 223 missing, and hundreds raped. One of the most brutal riots in modern India.

Amongst the murdered, injured, and raped, was the family of Bilkis Bano.

Bilkis Bano was a 21-year-old woman who made headlines post-2002 Gujrat Riots. As the riots blazed, Muslim and Hindu extremists started brutal attacks against each other in different parts of Gujrat. And to escape the violence, Bilkis Bano (who was only five months pregnant) and her family left their hometown and reached Chapparwad Village on 3 March 2002.

It was in Chapparwad where a group of 30 men armed with sickles and swords attacked her family. The attackers took turns gangraping her, her mother, and three other women. On that dreadful day, Bilkis lost 14 of her family members, including her 3-years-old daughter.

Upon regaining consciousness, Bilkis borrowed clothing from an Adivasi woman and headed to the Limkheda police station in the Dahod district to make a complaint. However, the chief constable wrote a distorted version of the incident and allegedly dismissed her case upon apparent lack of evidence.

But, this was only the beginning of her suffering in the fight for justice.

Bilkis Bano’s Pursuit for Justice

Upon receiving negligible help and security from the Limkheda police, Bilkis approached human rights NGO, the National Human Right Commission. This forced the supreme court to hand her case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI unearthed the victim’s dead bodies. But, due to the absence of skulls, the bodies could not be recognized. Upon further investigation, it was found that even the post-mortem reports were tampered with.

Throughout the trials, she was threatened. However, after receiving multiple death threats, Bilkis urged the court to move the trail from Gujrat to Maharashtra.

The trial in Marashatra resulted in 19 arrests, including the culprits, police offerers, and a doctor.

Finally, Bikils’s pursuit for justice came to an end in January 2008, when 13 men were convicted of raping a pregnant woman, murders, unlawful assembly, and other charges under the Indian Penal Code. Amongst them, 11 were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Moreover, in 2019, the SC ordered the Gujrat government to give Bilkis a compensation of Rs. 50 Lakhs (INR 5 million), along with a home and a government job.

But, the premature release of the convicts in the past weeks changes the course of the case. This has also forced the world to question the obscurity of the court.

Why are the Convicts Released?

The release of prisoners in India is not uncommon. Usually, on prominent leaders’ birth and death anniversaries, the governors and the President use their ‘power to pardon‘ to release prisoners who have completed at least half of their sentence.

In the case of Bilkis Bano, Radheshyam Shah, one of the convicts, approached the Supreme Court with a plea to release after serving 15 years and four months in prison.

This led a Bench of Justices, Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath, to order the Gujrat government to consider Shah’s application for premature release, as per the state’s 1992 Remission Policy. And, since all the prisoners have already served over 14 years in prison, the government decide to approve the premature release of all the 11 convicts.

And on Monday, the 11 convicts walked out of the Godhra sub-jail.

The Backlash

The BJP, which is in power in Gujarat and the Center, has come under fire from opposition politicians throughout the nation over the action. Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress was one of the petitioners who opposed the release.

Not just the remission but also the accompanying celebration of the prisoners had caused a great deal of resentment. Earlier this week, Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, stated that the 

“felicitation could not be justified.”

The prisoners were released after serving over 14 years in prison. They were released as a result of a Supreme Court directive. But felicitating any guilty person is wrong. Such actions cannot be excused because an accused is an accused, he added. 

Furthermore, more than 6,000 people, including well-known campaigners, have recently written to the SC about prisoners who were just released from jail.

Bilkis Bano Case: “We are Now Scared”

In an interview with the Wire, Yakub Rasul, Bilkis Bano’s husband, said:

“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.”

It is political obscenity for the life sentences of the Gujrat gangrape criminals to be commuted, and their celebratory “welcome” is a national disgrace. The rapists must go back to jail to finish out their term, and Bilkis Bano is due an apology.

Also Read: Kashmiri Leader Yasin Malik Is Sentenced To Life Imprisonment