Explained: Who is Bilkis Bano and what happened to her in 2002?

Hyderabad: Eleven men who were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case of 2002 were released from Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after a panel set up by the Gujarat government approved their application for remission of the sentence. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Raj Kumar said the remission application was considered […]

Hyderabad: Eleven men who were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case of 2002 were released from Godhra sub-jail on August 15 after a panel set up by the Gujarat government approved their application for remission of the sentence.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Raj Kumar said the remission application was considered because the convicts had completed 14 years in jail, and factors such as “age, nature of the crime, behaviour in prison and so on”.

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Bilkis, who was 21-year-old then, was brutally gang-raped during the communal violence that followed the Godhra train-burning incident. She was five months pregnant. Seven members of her family were killed by rioters.

Who is Bilkis Bano and what happened to her in 2002?

On February 27, 2002, Gujarat turned violent after the Sabarmati train was burnt in Godhra. Over 50 karsevaks were killed on the train. Fearing the outbreak of violence, Bilkis fled from her village named Randhikpur with her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter and 15 other family members.

They took refuge in the Chhaparvad district. On March 3, Bilkis and her family members were attacked by about 30 people armed with sickles, swords, and sticks. Among the attackers were the 11 accused men.

Bilkis, her mother, and three other women were raped and brutally assaulted. Among the family members, only Bilkis, a man, and a three-year-old survived the attack.

According to reports, Bilkis regained consciousness three hours after the incident and after borrowing clothes from an Adivasi woman made her way to the Limkheda police station to register a complaint with the help of a home guard.

Bilkis was taken to a public hospital for medical examination. Her case was taken up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Supreme Court, which ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The case

Eleven persons who were accused in the case were arrested in 2004 and the trial began in Ahmedabad. After Bilkis expressed apprehensions that witnesses could be harmed and the evidence collected by the CBI tampered with, the apex court transferred the case to Mumbai.

In 2008, the Special CBI Court sentenced 11 men to life imprisonment on the charges of conspiring to rape a pregnant woman, murder, and unlawful assembly under the Indian Penal Code. The court acquitted seven other accused for lack of evidence. One of the accused had died during the trial.

According to the court, Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, and Naresh Kumar Mordhiya (deceased) raped Bilkis, while Shailesh Bhatt had killed her daughter by “smashing” her on the ground.

Others who were convicted are Radheshyam Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Vohania, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Nitesh Bhatt, Ramesh Chandana, and Head Constable Somabhai Gori.

In 2017, the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of 11 people in the gang rape case.

In 2019, the Supreme Court awarded compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Bilkis.

Convicts have been released

One of the convicts had approached the Gujarat High Court seeking remission of the sentence under sections 432 and 433 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The High Court dismissed his plea while observing that “appropriate government” to decide on his remission is Maharashtra and not Gujarat.

Shah then filed a plea in the Supreme Court, pleading that he had been in jail for 15 years and four months without remission as of 1 April 2022.

The apex court directed the Gujarat government to look into the issue of remission of his sentence following which the government formed a committee.

The 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case on Monday walked out of the Godhra sub-jail.