The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Gujarat government’s decision to grant immunity to 11 convicts in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots, sparking political reaction. Is coming. On the matter, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi wrote on social media platform After this order, the veil over BJP’s anti-women policies has been removed. After this order, public confidence in the justice system will be further strengthened. Congratulations to Bilkis Bano for continuing her fight bravely.
Ultimately justice has prevailed. Supreme Court finds victim of gangrape during Gujarat riots #BilkisBano The release of the accused has been cancelled. With this order, the veil over the anti-women policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been removed. After this order, public confidence in the justice system has become stronger…
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) January 8, 2024
What did the court say during the hearing of the case
A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan declared the PILs challenging the commutation of sentence maintainable and said that the Gujarat government is not the appropriate government to order commutation of sentence. The Supreme Court has considered as ‘invalid’ the order of May 13, 2022 of another bench regarding considering the petition of the convicts for remission of sentence from the Gujarat government. Let us tell you that at the time of the incident, Binkis Bano was 21 years old and was also five months pregnant. The rape was committed during the riots that broke out after the incident of burning of Bano to Godhra train, which was discussed in the entire country. His three-year-old daughter was also among the seven members of his family killed in the riots.
Petition filed in Supreme Court
It is noteworthy that the Gujarat government had given remission of sentence to all the 11 convicts on August 15, 2022 and released them. After this a petition was filed in the Supreme Court.