Bilkis Bano, who was 5-months pregnant at the time, was gang raped in 2002 as her family members were killed in front of her by a mob.
On August 15, 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case were released by the Gujarat government as per their remission policy, a move which led to a lot of outrage from the opposition leaders, who slammed the BJP administration in the state.
After the release of the 11 convicts who gang-raped Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Gujarat riots, the family of the Muslim women was left speechless and stunned, as they expressed how the government still had not given them the residence and jobs promised earlier.
The husband of Bilkis Bano on Tuesday said they were surprised after coming to know from the media about the release of all 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment for her gang rape and murder of seven members of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Bilkis Bano's husband Yakub Rasul, while speaking to PTI, said that he didn’t wish to comment on the recent developments in the case, and had only gotten to know about the release of the 11 convicts in Gujarat through the media.
Rasul said he, his wife, and five sons, the eldest now aged 20, continue to live without a fixed address, more than 20 years after the incident. He said that the promise of a house and a job by the Gujarat government had still not been fulfilled.
"We had no knowledge about when they (convicts) processed their application and which judgment the state government took into consideration. We never received any kind of notice and were not told about this. There was no way we could have known about this in advance," he said, as per PTI reports.
Rasul said the Gujarat government paid the family a compensation of Rs 50 lakh as directed by the Supreme Court. "But the government has not yet made any arrangements for a job or house as directed by the Supreme Court,” he said. He further added that the family continues to live in hiding, without any permanent address.
On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano's family was attacked by a mob at Randhikpur village in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district during the post-Godhra riots. Bilkis, who was five months pregnant at that time, was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed.
(With PTI inputs)
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 "‘Still no place to live, no job by government': Bilkis Bano's family on release of her rapists in Gujarat")
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