Bilkis Bano case: Owaisi asks PM to cancel remission of 11 convicts

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the release orders of 11 convicts who were convicted in Bilkis Bano rape. “I appeal with folded hands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do justice to Bilkis Bano. All the 11 persons should be sent back […]

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the release orders of 11 convicts who were convicted in Bilkis Bano rape.

“I appeal with folded hands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do justice to Bilkis Bano. All the 11 persons should be sent back to jail. There is a policy of the union government. It is clearly stated that such persons should not be granted remission,” Owaisi said.

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The Gujarat government had on August 15 released the 11 persons who were sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 gang rape case of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her seven family members.
Owaisi said that time and again, women were subjected to sexual harassment and violence. “Today it has happened to Bilkis Bano, tomorrow it will happen with anyone,” he said.

Referring to the reaction of Bilkis Bano on the release of the convicts, he asked whether the government of India wanted Muslim women to remember the gang rape incident and live in fear.

Owaisi also alleged that the BJP was doing such things keeping in view the Gujarat assembly polls. “The government wants to send a message that it stands with the people who are in jails, not with those who are fighting for justice,” he said.