Smita Sabharwal’s tweet triggered a debate in bureaucratic and political circles since she made these comments while being in service as an IAS officer.
Mumbai: Senior IAS Officer Smita Sabharwal extended her support for Bilkis Bano through a tweet urging the supreme court to let people’s faith be there in the judiciary and take actions against the release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano Rape case has erupted a row in Telangana. Her tweet has divided the netizens and some are lauding her for showing courage and speaking up while others have trolled her for being ‘selective’ and speaking like a ‘politician’. Her tweet also faced sharp reactions from few of the political leaders too.
Three days ago attaching a statement the officer tweeted, “As a woman and a civil servant, I sit in disbelief, reading the news on the #BilkisBanoCase. We cannot snuff out her Right to breathe free without fear, again and call ourselves a free nation. #JusticeForBilkisBano(sic)”.
As a woman and a civil servant I sit in disbelief, on reading the news on the #BilkisBanoCase.
We cannot snuff out her Right to breathe free without fear, again and call ourselves a free nation. #JusticeForBilkisBano pic.twitter.com/NYL6YS59Gh— Smita Sabharwal (@SmitaSabharwal) August 18, 2022
Retired IAS officer S.Balasubramanyam, who had worked in the CMO during the TD regime in undivided AP, opined that there was nothing wrong in IAS officers expressing their opinions in public against government decisions. He said, “It comes under freedom of speech and expression. IAS officers can point out bad decisions of the government. They are only restricted from making statements which cause law and order problems or create enmity between different communities or religions.”
However, the IAS Officer Smita Sabharwal tok to twitter again yesterday and took a dig at garlanding the convicts.
“They deserved the noose not the garlands.Appeal to the Supreme Court and Constitutional heads to cancel the remission, and restore our faith. #justice For Bilkis Bano” , posted with a cartoon, her tweet read.
They deserved the noose not garlands.
Appeal to the Supreme Court and Constitutional heads to cancel the remission, and restore our faith. #JusticeForBilkisBano pic.twitter.com/ECqXhZacF4— Smita Sabharwal (@SmitaSabharwal) August 21, 2022
Receiving praises for speaking out , she hailed it.
Bilkis Bano Case:
After 11 men sentenced to lifetime imprisonment for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the Gujarat riots of 2002 were freed from Godhra prison on August 15, the Gujarat government claimed it had relied on an earlier policy from 1992 and not the recent 2014 policy when approving the men’s requests for sentence reduction.
A committee led by the Godhra Collector was then established by the Gujarati government which included people from BJP too. The panel decisded to release all 11 of the case’s convicts. The convicts were welcomed with garlands and sweets.
This caused a nationwide uproar.
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