On March 3, 2002, a mob attacked Bilkis Bano’s family at Randhikpur village in Dahod district. A 5-month pregnant Bilki was gang-raped. While seven members of her family were murdered, six others managed to flee, the court was told. The accused were arrested in 2004.
11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape and massacre that occurred, during the 2002 Godhra riots sentenced to life imprisonment walked out of Godhra sub-jail on Monday after the Gujarat government freed them under its remission policy, according to an official.
A special CBI court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008, awarded the 11 to life imprisonment over the gang rape of Bilkis and the murder of seven members of the family. Bombay High Court later upheld the conviction.
One of the convicts, who have all spent at least 15 years in jail, had reached out to the Supreme Court with a plea requesting release.
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The top court directed the state government to look into the possible remission of his sentence. Following this, the Gujarat government formed a committee, said Panchmahals collector Sujal Mayatra, who led the panel.
A committee formed a few months back took a unanimous decision in favor of remission of (the sentences of) all the 11 convicts. The recommendation was sent to the state government, and yesterday we received the orders for their release,” Mayatra stated.
On March 3, 2002, a mob attacked Bilkis Bano’s family at Randhikpur village in Dahod district. A 5-month pregnant Bilki was gang-raped. While seven members of her family were murdered, six others managed to flee, the court was told. The accused were arrested in 2004.
The trial began in Ahmedabad. However, after Bilkis expressed concern about the safety of the witness and the evidence collected by the CBI tampered with, the apex Court transferred the case to Mumbai in August 2004.
The 2008 convictions of 11 accused were upheld in 2018 by the Bombay High Court, which set aside the acquittal of seven others in the case.
One of the 11 lifers, Radheshyam Shah, later moved to the Gujarat High Court seeking remission of the sentence. The HC dismissed his plea while observing that the “appropriate government” to decide his remission was Maharashtra and not Gujarat.
Shah then filed a plea in the SC pleading he had been in jail for 15 years and 4 months without remission as of April 1, 2022.
In its order of May 13, the Supreme Court stated that since the crime was committed in Gujarat, the state’s government was the appropriate government to examine Shah’s application.
Other than Radheshyam, the convicts granted premature release are Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana.
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