The Supreme Court on Monday overturned the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. He demanded that the BJP governments at the Centre and in Gujarat apologise to Bilkis Bano.
The apex court accused the Gujarat government of abusing its power and ordered the convicts, who were found guilty of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 riots, to be sent back to jail within two weeks. The bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan questioned whether “heinous crimes against women permit remission” regardless of the victim’s faith or creed.
Owaisi welcomed the ruling and expressed hope that it would serve as a precedent against all rapists in the future. He pointed out that the incident occurred when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and claimed that the environment in Gujarat was so communally charged at that time that the trial had to be shifted to Maharashtra.
Owaisi also alleged that two BJP MLAs endorsed the release of the convicts, with one MLA even referring to these rapists as “Sanskari”.
“So the BJP government in Gujarat and the BJP government at the Centre both have helped in releasing these convicts in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members and that is why I demand that the BJP government in Gujarat and the BJP government in Centre led by PM Narendra Modi they should speak up and apologise to Bilkis Bano. This is the minimum that can be done by the BJP,” Owaisi demanded.
Owaisi emphasized that rapists should understand that they will not be set free due to their political ideology. He criticized Narendra Modi’s talk of ‘Nari Shakti’ as a hollow claim with no relevance on the ground.
The 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15, 2022. However, the Supreme Court held the PIL challenging the remission as maintainable, stating that the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to pass the remission order.
Also Read: Krack Moov: The Magic of the Paras Brands
