'PM Modi today made tall statements on Nari Samman to prohibit insult to the womenfolk... but hours later, the Gujarat government has allowed convicts of Bilkis Bano gang rape case to go scot-free,' said RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmad. (File image)
Photo : IANS
New Delhi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Gujarat government allowed the release of all the eleven convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang rape case.
The convicts walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on Monday after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
“PM Modi today made tall statements on Nari Samman to prohibit insult to the womenfolk... but hours later, the Gujarat government has allowed convicts of Bilkis Bano gang rape case to go scot-free... this is unfortunate that pm on one hand spoke something, diagonally opposite was being done by the Gujarat government... how will the BJP talk about women empowerment,” said RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmad.
Family members of Bilkis Bano were attacked by a mob at Randhikpur village in Limkheda taluka of the Dahod district during the post-Godhra riots on March 3, 2002. Bilkis Bano, who was five months pregnant at that time, was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed.
The accused in the case were arrested in 2004. On January 21, 2008, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai sentenced the 11 accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.
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.
Following this, the apex court had directed the Gujarat government to look into the issue of remission of his sentence.
After this, the Gujarat government formed a committee under Panchmahals Collector Sujal Mayatra.
“A committee formed a few months back took a unanimous decision in favour of remission of all the 11 convicts in the case. The recommendation was sent to the state government, and yesterday we received the orders for their release,” said Mayatra.
