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Bilkis Bano Gang-rape Case
Gujarat communal riots victim Bilkis Bano on Tuesday cast her vote along with her husband in Devgadh Baria town under Dahod Lok Sabha constituency. Bano flashed her ink-marked finger after coming out of the polling station in Kapdi locality with her husband Yakub Rasul. Voting was held for 25 out of 26 constituencies in Gujarat in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party has renominated Dahod MP Jasvantsinh Bhabhor who is pitted against Prabha Kishor Taviad of Congress. Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out in Gujarat after the Godhra train-burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was killed along with six members of her family. In its January 8 verdict, the Supreme Court quashed the remission granted to the 11 convicts and ordered that they be sent back to jail within two weeks. They later surrendered and are currently lodged in the Go
The Gujarat High Court has granted 10-day parole to Bilkis Bano case convict Ramesh Chandana to attend his nephew's wedding scheduled for March 5. Chandana, who moved the High Court for parole last week, is the second convict in the case to be granted parole after all 11 convicts in the case surrendered at a jail in Godhra town on January 21 following a Supreme Court order. They were convicted in a case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots. "By this application, the convict-applicant prays for parole leave on the grounds of attending the marriage ceremony of the son of his sister. Taking into consideration the grounds urged in this application, the applicant-accused is ordered to be released on parole leave for a period of ten days," said Justice Divyesh Joshi in his order issued on Friday. As per the Gujarat government's affidavit before the Supreme Court, Chandana had enjoyed parole for 1,198 days and a furlough of
All 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case surrendered late Sunday night at Godhra sub jail in Gujarat's Panchmahal district in keeping with the deadline imposed by the Supreme Court. "All 11 convicts have surrendered before jail authorities late Sunday night," said local Crime Branch inspector NL Desai. The top court had on January 8 annulled the remission the Gujarat government granted to the 11 convicts in the high-profile case while slamming the State for being "complicit" with an accused and abusing its discretion. It ordered the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, to go back to jail within two weeks. The apex court had a couple of days ago rejected pleas of the convicts for grant of more time to surrender and had asked them to do so by Sunday. The 11 convicts are Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh ...
The only eyewitness in the Bilkis Bano case has said that the individuals convicted for the gruesome crime must be hanged or jailed for the remainder of their lives and only then would justice be served. The eyewitness was seven when a mob attacked his cousin Bilkis Bano and other members of the minority community in Limkheda taluka of Gujarat's Dahod district and killed 14 of them during riots that erupted in 2002 after the Godhra train burning incident. He is now 28 years old and lives in Ahmedabad with his wife and 5-year-old son. I had endured the trauma of watching my loved ones being killed in front of my eyes. I still wake up in the night and scream as those moments haunt me even after all these years, he said. On January 8 this year, the Supreme Court quashed the Gujarat government's decision, taken in August 2022, to prematurely release 11 convicts facing life term for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of 14 persons. I felt very hurt when they were set free. I a
A senior police official in Dahod has said they have not yet received any information about the surrender of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case after the Supreme Court quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant them remission. A police force remains deployed in the area where the convicts live to maintain peace, he said. The convicts, however, are "not incommunicado" and some of them are visiting relatives, Dahod Superintendent of Police Balram Meena said on Tuesday. Bilkis Bano, then 21 years old and five months pregnant, was raped while fleeing after communal riots broke out in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident in 2002. Her three-year-old daughter and six other family members were killed. The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the remission granted to the 11 convicts while slamming the Gujarat government for abusing its discretion. It ordered all the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, back to jail within two ...
The Supreme Court Monday deferred to October 11 the final hearing on petitions challenging the premature release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. We will have it on Wednesday, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said, adding it will try to conclude hearing the matter the same day. The top court said it has received written submissions of the petitioners which have been taken on record. "List on October 11, 2023 at 2 pm, the bench, which was scheduled to hear the rejoinder submissions of those opposed to the premature release of the convicts, said. The bench had on October 6 asked the counsel for the petitioners, including Bilkis Bano, to file their short written rejoinder arguments. While hearing the matter on September 20, the top court had asked whether convicts have a fundamental right to seek remission. "Is the right to seek remission a fundamental right? Will a petition li