The convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case of Gujarat were released following a Supreme Court order, but it was wrong if a person accused of a crime is “felicitated” and there can be no justification for such an act, said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.
Replying to a discussion in the Maharashtra Legislative Council regrading an incident in Bhandara district, where a 35-year-old woman was sexually assaulted allegedly by three people, Fadnavis said there was no reason to raise the Bilkis Bano issue in the House.
“The accused have been freed after completing nearly 20 years…14 years in jail. The release has been done after a Supreme Court order. But it is wrong if any accused is felicitated and welcomed. An accused is an accused and there can be no justification for this (act),” said Fadnavis, who is also the home minister.
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After the BJP government in Gujarat permitted their early release under its remission policy on August 15, all 11 of the convicts who had been given life sentences in the case of Bilkis Bano’s gang rape and the murder of her seven family members during the 2002 communal riots walked out of the Godhra sub-jail.
After being released from prison, they were greeted with garlands.
The release of the convicts and the reception given to them drew criticism for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose MLAs were on the committee constituted by the Gujarat government to consider remissions.
On January 21, 2008, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai sentenced the eleven convicts to life imprisonment on the charges of gang rape and the murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family, a riot survivor.
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