“No One Enquired About My Safety And Well-Being”: Bilkis Bano On Release Of Her Rapists

Bilkis Bano was 21 when she saw seven members of her family murdered. Among them was her daughter, who was just three years old. Seven other relatives, who she says was also killed, were declared “missing”. The woman, five months pregnant, was then gang-raped.

New Delhi: 2002 Gujarat riots rape case survivor Bilkis Bano, has said the release of the 11 rapists has “shaken” her faith in justice.

In her first reaction since the release two days ago, she hinted at a sense of deep hurt and betrayal. It has left her “numb” and “bereft of words”, Bilkis Bano 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… My sorrow and my wavering faith is not for myself alone but for every woman who is struggling for justice in courts,” said the woman, whose fight for justice went on for 18 long years,” Bilkis Bano’s statement said.

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The statement also hinted at shock at the Gujarat government’s move to release the convicts without any consultation with her.

“No one enquired about my safety and well-being, before taking such a big and unjust decision,” Bilkis added.

Asking the Gujarat goverment for her right to live without fear she said, “Give me back my right to live without fear and in peace. Please ensure that my family and I are kept safe.”

Bilkis Bano was 21 when she saw seven members of her family murdered. Among them was her daughter, who was just three years old. Seven other relatives, who she says was also killed, were declared “missing”. The woman, five months pregnant, was then gang-raped.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, awarded the 11 to life imprisonment on charges of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.

“Those who raped a 5-month pregnant woman and killed her 3-year-old daughter were released during ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’,” Congress Mp Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

“What is the message going out to the women of the country, from those speaking of women empowerment,” he asked, referring to PM Modi’s Independence Day speech. PM Modi, in his Independence Day speech from Red Fort, had spoken of “naari shakti” and said we must “not do anything that lowers the dignity of women”.

5 महीने की गर्भवती महिला से बलात्कार और उनकी 3 साल की बच्ची की हत्या करने वालों को 'आज़ादी के अमृत महोत्सव' के दौरान रिहा किया गया।

नारी शक्ति की झूठी बातें करने वाले देश की महिलाओं को क्या संदेश दे रहे हैं?

प्रधानमंत्री जी, पूरा देश आपकी कथनी और करनी में अंतर देख रहा है।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 17, 2022