Bilkis Bano case: SC asks Gujarat govt to furnish remission order, record of proceedings

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 09, 2022: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Gujarat government to file the entire record of the proceedings in the Bilkis Bano case, including the remission order given to the convicts. The top court has given the Gujarat government two weeks to produce all relevant records in the case.

 

The 11 convicts who were sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family were released last month. The convicts were set free under Gujarat’s remission policy after their application for remission of the sentence was allowed.

These convicts had served more than 15 years in jail, after which one of them approached the Supreme Court with a plea for his premature release.

Their release sparked widespread outrage and condemnation. Over 6,000 people, including activists and historians, urged the Supreme Court to revoke the early release of the convicts in the case.

The next hearing in the case will now be held after three weeks.

Bilkis Bano was 20 years old and several months pregnant at the time she was subjected to brutality by men she had apparently known for years. She referred to one of them as ‘Chacha’ (uncle) and the others as brothers. She was gang-raped and left almost lifeless. She saw her family members being killed. Her three-year-old daughter was also murdered on March 3, 2002.

On regaining consciousness, Bilkis borrowed clothes from a tribal woman and went to the Limkheda police station in Dahod district to register a complaint. The head constable there suppressed facts and wrote a truncated version of the complaint.

It was just the beginning of her ordeal in pursuit of justice. She received death threats, prompting the Supreme Court, in 2004, to move the trial out of Gujarat to Mumbai.

In January 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai convicted 11 of the 20 accused on charges of conspiracy to rape a pregnant woman, murder, unlawful assembly, and other charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The head constable was convicted for “making incorrect records” to save the accused. Seven of the 20 accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence. One person died during the course of the trial.

Courtesy: India Today