The Supreme Court has sent a notice to the Gujarat government on the petitions against the release of the accused in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case during the Gujarat riots. The bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana stated that it would examine whether there was sufficient deliberation in the release of the accused. Then, Advocate Kapil Sibal told the court that there was no violation of the law in releasing the accused from jail. But the petitioners argued that it should be checked that the perpetrators of atrocities were released. The court also directed the addition of eleven more accused who were released from jail as parties in the case.
Last week, the Gujarat government released 11 people convicted in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape and murder case. The accused were convicted in the cases of the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven members of the Bano family. In 2008, the Mumbai CBI court sentenced 11 accused persons to life imprisonment. One of the accused had approached the Supreme Court after completing 15 years in jail and seeking his release. The Supreme Court directed the Gujarat government to take a decision on the matter. Then the government decided to release them.
The Gujarat government appointed a committee chaired by Panchmahal Collector Sujal Mayatra to submit a report on the matter following the Supreme Court's directive. The committee had instructed the government to release all of them as they had completed their 15-year sentences in the case. With this, they were released from Godhra sub-jail.
During the riots after the Godhra incident in March 2002, Bilkis Bano, who was five months pregnant, was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed. Six members of the family escaped. The accused were arrested by the police in 2004, two years after the controversial incident. The trial began in Ahmedabad. In August 2004, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai after Bilkis Bano expressed concern that witnesses would be harassed and evidence gathered by the CBI tampered with. On January 21, 2008, a special CBI court sentenced eleven accused to life imprisonment.
They were convicted under the Indian Penal Code on charges of conspiracy to rape a pregnant woman, murder, and unlawful assembly. The Supreme Court ordered the state government to compensate Bilkis Bano with Rs 50 lakh, a government job, and a house.
