Bilkis Bano case: NHRC to take up 'discussion' on release of 11 life-term convicts on Monday

Days after the release of all convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven members of her family, the National Human Rights Commission is likely to take up the issue for “discussion” on Monday, reported The Sunday Express. 

Notably, it was the NHRC’s intervention in 2003 that had ensured legal assistance for Bano to approach the Supreme Court after the Gujarat Police had crossed the case. 

The human rights body, under former Chief Justice of India J S Verma, had met her when he visited a relief camp in Godhra in March 2002. The NHRC had appointed senior advocate and former Solicitor General Harish Salve to represent her before the Supreme Court.

On August 15, all eleven convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang rape and murder of seven members of her family on Monday walked out of Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, sentenced the eleven accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano's family. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.

After the violence erupted following the burning of a Sabarmati Express coach that killed 59 'karsevaks 'on February 27, 2002, Bilkis Bano, who was five-month pregnant at that time, fled her village with her toddler daughter and 15 others.

On March 3, they took shelter in a field when a mob of 20-30 people armed with sickles, swords and sticks attacked them and Bilkis Bano was gang raped, while seven members of her family were killed. Six other members managed to run away.

Given the outrage over the incident, the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe. The accused in the case were arrested in 2004.

The trial began in Ahmedabad. However, after Bilkis Bano expressed apprehensions that witnesses could be harmed and the evidence collected by the CBI tampered with, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai in August 2004.

The special CBI court on January 21, 2008, sentenced the eleven accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano's family.