Eleven convicts were on Monday set free from the Godhra sub-jail where they were serving a life sentence after being found guilty of involvement in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape case during Gujarat riots. The release came after a state government panel approved their application for remission of sentence, senior officials in the state told The Indian Express.
According to Raj Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) in the Gujarat government, the application for remission was considered due to the “completion of 14 years” in jail and other factors such as “age, nature of the crime, behaviour in prison and so on”.
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Pregnant at the time, Bilkis Bano was gangraped while her three-year-old daughter was among 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district.
Bilkis had approached the National Human Rights Commission following which the Supreme Court had ordered the probe to be taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation. In August 2004, the Supreme Court directed that the trial be transferred to Maharashtra from Gujarat after Bilkis alleged death threats from the accused.
Also Read: A timeline of the horrific gangrape case and Bilkis Bano’s 15-year fight for justice
On January 21, 2008, a CBI special court found 13 accused guilty and sentenced 11 of them to life imprisonment on charges of gangrape and murder. In May 2017, the conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court.
The 11 convicts who have been set free are Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana.
In the first such order in the Gujarat riots case, the Supreme Court in 2019 awarded Rs 50 lakh in compensation to Bilkis and ordered the state government to ensure that it is provided. “It is very apparent that what should not have happened has happened and the state has to give compensation,” the SC bench of the then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said.