Bilkis Rape Case – Hearing against the release of the convicts today: 2 days ago a convict appeared on stage with BJP MP and MLA

On Saturday, one of the convicts in the case, Shailesh Chimanlal Bhatt (circled in red), was seen on stage with BJP MP Jaswant Singh Bhabhor and MLA Shailesh Bhabhor.

There will be a hearing in the Supreme Court today against the Gujarat government’s decision to prematurely release 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. Two days before this, on Saturday, one of the convicts in the case, Shailesh Chimanlal Bhatt, was seen on stage along with BJP MP Jaswant Singh Bhabhor and MLA Shailesh Bhabhor. The program related to Har Ghar Jal Yojana was organized by the government.

Let us inform that today the matter will be heard by the Division Bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice BV Nagaratna. Earlier in December 2022, Judge Bela Madhurya Trivedi had separated his name from the bench hearing the case. For this reason the hearing was postponed.

Justice Bela Trivedi had recused herself from hearing Bano’s review petition in November as well.

Rape convicts were released on August 15
Bano’s lawyer Shobha Gupta appealed several times to the Supreme Court to form a new bench. The CJI was enraged at repeated appeals to form a new bench. He had said that there will be no hearing in the matter soon, do not bother. After this, on March 22, the court told that the new bench is ready for hearing.

In fact, the convicts in the rape and murder of Bilkis Bano and her family members during the 2002 Godhra carnage were given premature release on August 15 last year. Against this, Bano filed a petition in the Supreme Court on 30 November 2022.

Bilkis had filed two petitions
Bilkis Bano had filed two petitions in the Supreme Court on 30 November. Challenging the release of 11 convicts in the first petition, they had demanded to send them back to jail immediately. At the same time, in the second petition, there was a demand to reconsider the court’s order given in May, in which the court had said that the decision on the release of the convicts would be taken by the Gujarat government. On this, Bilkis said that when the trial of the case was going on in Maharashtra, then how can the Gujarat government take a decision?

Bilkis Bano has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the amnesty policy of the Gujarat government so that her convicts can be sent back to jail.

Mahua has filed a petition in Moitra in the case
Even before this, some public interest litigations were filed in the Supreme Court demanding reconsideration of the release of the culprits. These petitions were filed by the National Federation of Indian Women, journalist Revati Lal and TMC MP Mahua Moitra.

Bilkis was gang-raped in the post-Godhra riots.
Riots broke out in Gujarat on 3 March 2002 after the Godhra carnage. During the riots, an angry mob barged into the house of Bilkis Bano at Randhikpur village in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district. To escape the rioters, Bilkis hid in a field with her family. Then Bilkis was 21 years old and she was 5 months pregnant.

The rioters gang-raped Bilkis. His mother and three more women were also raped. During this, the attackers killed 7 out of 17 members of Bilkis’s family. At the same time, 6 people went missing, who were never found. Only Bilkis, a man and a three-year-old child survived the attack.

In January 2008, the Special Court of CBI gave the sentence
Bilkis was 21 years old and pregnant at the time of the accident. In the riots, 6 members of his family managed to escape after saving their lives. The gangrape accused were arrested in 2004. In January 2008, a special CBI court sentenced 11 convicts to life imprisonment.

The Bombay High Court had upheld the conviction of the accused. The accused were first kept in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai and then in Nashik Jail. After about 9 years, all were sent to the sub-jail of Godhra.

750 Muslims were killed in Gujarat riots
On 27 February 2002, a coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire by a mob in Godhra, Gujarat. In this, riots broke out after the death of 57 kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya. More than a thousand people were killed in the riots. Most of them were Muslims. The central government told the Rajya Sabha in May 2005 that 254 Hindus and 750 Muslims were killed in the Gujarat riots.

Also read this special news of Bhaskar related to Bilkis Bano…

1. Bilkis convicted of gangrape released: Husband said – because of him we lived in fear

Yakub said that he was not informed about the release of the convicts. The media came to know that this has happened. Then we verified this news. This has caused us a lot of shock and shock. Bilkis is also worried about what will happen next. A lot of fear has arisen in the heart. How will we live like this? We never thought this would happen. Nor was it known. Read full news…

2. CJI furious over repeated appeals in Bano case: On the plea of ​​forming a new bench, said – do not disturb

The Supreme Court has refused to consider the petition of Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano for early hearing by setting up a new bench. The victim’s counsel had stressed the need for constitution of a fresh bench to hear the matter. To this the CJI said that the petition would be included in the list. Read full news…