New Delhi: Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against release of 11 people of gang-raping Bilkis and killing her family members.
The matter was placed before the Chief Justice today. He assured to consider it and put it before the appropriate bench.
Accused were freed by Gujarat government on August 15, Independence Day, under an outdated policy, which sparked massive national wide outrage.
On May 13, a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath had ruled on the plea of one of the convicts, Radheshyam Shah, saying he was sentenced in 2008. Therefore, the stringent rules framed in Gujarat in 2014 for release will not apply but the rules of 1992 will apply.
On August 15, the Gujarat government had released 11 people who had served 14-year sentences on the same grounds. The 1992 rules provided for the release of life convicts after 14 years, while the new rules, which came into force in 2014, deny the exemption to convicts of heinous crimes.
Demand for withdrawal of order
So far, many leaders and social activists, including Subhashini Ali, Rupali Verma Mahua Moitra, had reached the Supreme Court against the release. They had challenged the Gujarat government’s order. These petitions are being heard. Now Bilkis Bano herself has come to the court and she has demanded the withdrawal of the Supreme Court order on May 13.
Meanwhile, During the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bilkis of Randhikpur village in Dahod district eloped with 16 members of her family and hid in the fields of nearby Village Chaparwad. On March 3, 2002, more than 20 rioters attacked there. Bilkis, who was 5 months pregnant, was among the other women who were raped. Not only this, 7 people including Bilkis’s 3-year-old daughter were killed.