CBI seeks death sentence in Bilkis Bano rape case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the Bombay high court seeking death sentence for the three accused in the Bilkis Bano gangrape and murder case of Gujarat. The accused, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai and Shailesh Bhatt were awarded life imprisonment by a special CBI court in Mumbai on January, 18, 2008.

The CBI has also sought enhancement in punishment granted to police officers in this case. The CBI has challenged the verdict in the HC saying the crime of the accused, especially these three was more severe and they deserve capital punishment. 

The division bench of Justice JN Patel and Justice Amjad Sayed on Saturday admitted the appeal and posted it for hearing in February, 2010. Head constable Somabhai Gori was sentenced to only RI for three years for fudging the FIR report lodged by Bilkis. CBI has sought enhancement in punishment for him too.

All the 12 convicts have approached the HC challenging their sentence. Their appeals were admitted by HC in October this year.

 The Bilkis Bano case was registered in March, 2002. Bilkis, who was six months pregnant then, witnessed 14 members of her family murdered. She was then gangraped, but survived. Initially the trial of this case had began in Ahmedabad in 2002. However, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai.