- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A court document has revealed that the Indian government led by prime minister Narendra Modi had approved the premature release of 11 men who were convicted of gangraping a pregnant Muslim woman and murdering 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, during the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat.
The convicts were part of a Hindu mob that attacked Bilkis Bano and her kin.
The release of the convicts on August 15 saw celebrations and they were accorded heroes’ welcome, even by some women. The incident caused a global outrage.
It may be mentioned here that it was on the same day that Modi, in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, appealed to the countrymen to respect women. The opposition slammed the prime minister over the alleged duality.
The Indian Express reported that the government of Gujarat told the Supreme Court of India on Monday (17) that it decided to release the convicts as they had “completed 14 years and above in prison… their behaviour was found to be good” and that the central government had also “conveyed (its) concurrence/approval”.
In an affidavit filed in response to petitions that were filed to challenge the remission that was granted to the convicts, the state government also said that the “Superintendent of Police, CBI, Special Crime Branch, Mumbai” and “the Special Civil Judge (CBI), City Civil and Sessions Court, Greater Bombay”, had opposed the early release of the prisoners in March 2021.
The CBI official had told the superintendent of Godhra sub-jail, where the convicts were serving their sentence, said the offence they committed was “heinous, grave and serious” and hence they “cannot be released prematurely and no leniency may be given” to them, the Indian Express report added.
The Indian top court has been hearing several petitions that challenged the convicts’ release.
Over 6,000 activists, historians, and citizens issued a statement urging the apex court to revoke the early release of the convicts, calling it a “grave miscarriage of justice”.
Bano and her family were shell-shocked with the decision and she said in a statement that the decision to release the convicts was “unjust” and it had “shaken” her faith in justice.
“When I heard that the convicts who had devastated my family and life had walked free, I was bereft of words. I am still numb,” she said.
“How can justice for any woman end like this? I trusted the highest courts in our land. I trusted the system, and I was learning slowly to live with my trauma. The release of these convicts has taken from me my peace and shaken my faith in justice,” she wrote, appealing to the Gujarat government to “undo this harm” and “give me back my right to live without fear and in peace”.
Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Modi on Tuesday (18) over the remission to the convicts, alleging that while there was talk of respect for women, the reality witnessed “support” for rapists.
“Talk of respect for women from the ramparts of the Red Fort but in reality support for ‘rapists’,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
“The difference between the prime minister’s promises and intentions is clear, PM has only betrayed women,” he said.
