The Trial of Bilkis Bano
Twenty one years since a pregnant Bilkis Bano was gang-raped and her family members murdered, her trial by fire continues till this day.
In the year 2004, the Supreme Court in an open court had lashed out at the Modi government over its handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots while hearing the BEST bakery case. A bench of Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat had compared the Modi government to ‘Modern Day Neroes’ who looked the other way as innocent women and children were burning. In the year 2003, the Chief Justice of India, V.N. Khare came down heavily on the Gujarat government over their handling of the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. “I have no faith left in the prosecution and the Gujarat Government..If you can't punish the offenders, its better you quit. If you fail to act then we will have to step in. We are not sitting here as mere spectators" said Khare.
Years later, Narendra Modi who is yet to apologise for the Gujarat riots that took place under his watch has decided to further punish and traumatise the ‘Muslim women’ he claimed, he wanted to ‘liberate’.
Rana Ayyub
On the 15th of August, India marked it’s 75th independence - Prime Minister
Narendra Modi addressed the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort “I have one
request for every Indian, can we change the mentality towards our women?” he asked
“Respect for women is an important pillar for India” stated the Prime Minister in a
speech that was repeated and lauded by mainstream news anchors all through the day.
Ironically, the eleven men who were convicted for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and
murdering her family during the Gujarat riots in 2002 walked out of Godhra jail on
the same day, under the Gujarat State’s policy of offering remission of sentences.
While these convicts were posing for photographs, fed sweets and were
garlanded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in a village in Gujarat, Bilkis Bano
was still trying to comprehending this trauma that had yet again been inflicted on
her.
The trauma that her rapists and the killers of her three-year-old daughter were walking free.
I Am Still Numb : Bilkis Bano
On August 17, lawyer Shobha Gupta released a statement on behalf of Bilkis Bano. The heartbreaking statement reads
“Two days ago, on August 15, 2022 the trauma of the past 20 years washed over me again when I heard that the 11 convicted men who devastated my family and my life, and took from me my 3 year old daughter, had walked free. I was bereft of words. I am still numb. Today, I can say only this - how can justice for any woman end like this? I trusted the highest courts in our land. I trusted the system, and I was learning slowly to live with my trauma. The release of these convicts has taken from me my peace and shaken my faith in justice. My sorrow and my wavering faith is not for myself alone but for every woman who is struggling for justice in courts. No one enquired about my safety and well-being, before taking such a big and unjust decision. I appeal to the Gujarat Government, please undo this harm. Give me back my right to live without fear and in peace. Please ensure that my family and I are kept safe.”
Yakub Rasul, Bilkis Bano’s husband, sounds terrified over the phone.
“We weren’t informed that those criminals will be released, it’s a surprise to us, we
lost our entire family, they killed our daughter, we intended to live peacefully but we
can’t predict what will happen next,” said Rasul while speaking to this journalist.
Rasul added that they have received serious threats from the culprits earlier, so this
release won’t be easy on his wife. “Bilkis is too scared to talk to anyone because of her
current state of fear, she doesn’t know how to process this news, we have been
shifting houses over the past many years out of fear. When will this trauma end ?”
Rasul asks.
Why Were the Convicts Released?
Indian Constitution under article 72 (president) and Article 161 (state governor)
“grants power to grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in
certain cases.”
In 2008 a special court in Mumbai convicted Jaswantbai Nai, Govindbhai Nai,
Shailesh Bhatt, Radhesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep
Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana
for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano (then 20 years old) and killing seven members of her
family including her three-year-old- daughter Saleha.
Convict Naresh Kumar Mordhiya had died during the trial.
The court noted that one of the convicts Shailesh Bhatt pulled Bilkis’s daughter
Saleha from “her arm and smashed her on the ground due to which she died.
The release comes after one of the convicts Radhesham Shah approached the Supreme
Court in April 2022 and appealed for premature release - he pleaded that he had been
in jail for fifteen years and four months.
Under Section 433A of the CrPC, the government can set a life convict free, if they
have served a minimum sentence of fourteen years.
As per the order dated May 13 - the apex court held that since the crime was
committed in Gujarat, the Gujarat government was the appropriate authority to
examine Shah’s plea.
The top court also maintained that the Gujarat government should consider the plea
under state remission (premature release) policy dated July 9, 1992 - which existed at
the time of Shah’s conviction.)
In May, the Supreme Court had directed the state government to decide on Shah’s
plea within two months.
The Gujarat government formed a committee after the apex court directed it to
examine the possibility of commuting his sentence. The committee unanimously
recommended that the sentences of all 11 convicts in the case be reduced.
However, in this case the approval of the central government would have been required.
Under the section 435 of CrPC - in certain cases that have been investigated by the
CBI, the state can remit the sentence only after consulting with the central
government.
Did the Modi government give the go ahead for Remission to Rapists/Murderers?
In 2021, the Supreme Court noted that 1,649 applications for remission from prisoners
who had served 14 years in jail were still pending in 21 states. 431 prisoners did not
apply for remission plea, thus may not have been aware of their rights, and 752
applications for premature release were rejected.
In India getting remission is not easy or common. According to advocate Nikhil
Parikshith “a disturbing practice that does not seem to abate is that remission
applications made by convicts are being dealt with in a callous manner by the
competent authorities in various states; remission applications are
often rejected en masse in a single meeting of the competent authority of a state
without any discernible reasons being furnished for such rejections; many of the
applicants have been incarcerated beyond 14 years, yet their applications are rejected
in a mechanical manner.”
Earlier in July, the central government granted special remission for prisoners as part
of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebration. Under the central guidelines prisoners
who have consistently maintained excellent behaviour throughout their sentence in
jail and those who have not received a penalty in the last three years are both eligible
for the remission. However, rape convicts are listed among those who are not to be
granted release under this policy.
Legally, the Bilkis Bano case might not be covered by the Centre’s rules as directed
by the Supreme Court in May, the Gujarat administration adhered to its own 1992
policy.
The decision by the Gujarat government, the home state of Narendra Modi is in
contradiction with the release of rape convicts.
The centre guidelines clearly states “ special remission is not granted to prisoners
convicted of rape offence”. Another point also states that those convicted with life
prison shall not be granted the special remission - additionally, that too would have
rendered ineligible the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
Shobha Gupta, who has represented Bilkis Bano during her arduous struggle, told the
news channel NDTV that central remission guideline under ‘Azadi ka Amrit
Mahotsav’ made it clear that convicts of rape and murder cannot be granted the
privilege’ Gupta said.
‘Even the Supreme Court has made plain the remission policy in a number of
decisions, as have its various constitution benches. It is stated in the most recent
constitution bench decision that remission is not a matter of right. After passing
specific requirements, a criminal is granted this reward’ Gupta told NDTV.
Gupta questioned the decision to release every criminal based solely on one of them
making a plea.
The Fateful Day
On March 3, 2002, 17 members of Bilkis’s family were attacked in the village of
Randhikpur, 250 kilometres from Ahmedabad.
Six members of her family were reported missing, and eight were killed. Bilkis, who
was five months pregnant at the time, was gang-raped, her mother Halima and cousin
Shamim were also gang-raped and killed by the perpetrators. Read her story here
Randhikpur is a small village in Dahod district, which also experienced an outbreak of
riots. Incidents of arson and looting were reported in Randhikpur from the morning of
February 28, 2002 - consequently there was an exodus of Muslims from the village
due to safety concerns.
Bilkis Bano along with her family fled from Randhikpur, Bilkis’s cousin Shamim was
pregnant and was about to deliver her baby. On February 28, Bilkis and her family
stopped at a village called Kuwajer, Shamim delivered her baby there, the next
morning they left.
On 3 March when the family was moving to Sarjumi village - two white vehicles with
twenty five men stopped and started shouting “Musalmano ko maro” (Kill Muslims)
and attacked Bilkis and her family. Jaswantbhai Chaturbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, and
Naresh Kumar Mordhiya took turns to rape Bilkis one after the other.
Two other accused tore off the clothes of her female members, and attacked male
members. Bilkis went unconscious and when she woke up she found her relatives
and Shamim’s two day old baby dead.
On August 6, 2004, the Supreme Court ordered that the trial in the case be moved
from Gujarat to Maharashtra after Bilkis submitted a plea claiming that the
environment in Gujarat was unfavourable to a fair trial.
How BJP’s Political Campaign Changed Post 2002
The 2002 Gujarat elections were instrumental in making Narendra Modi as the face of
Hindu nationalism, ‘The Hindu Hridaya Samrat’
In 2003, Gujarat was scheduled to hold state elections in the first quarter of 2003 -
however the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi “initiated the process of
maximising gains,” writes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Modi proposed dissolving the assembly in order to push for early voting, but the
Election Commission (EC) refused to cooperate and said that the climate in the state
was not favourable for holding elections.
Modi continued with his political campaign even though over thousands were killed in
the Gujarat bloodshed. His strategy was to rally and consolidate all support for
himself that he received from the Hindu population for re-claiming the Hindu pride
during the 2002 anti-Muslim carnage.
Modi named his electoral campaign “Gaurav Yatra” to emphasise that he was more
concerned with its emotional appeal than its political merit.
Twenty one years later, just four months before the high stake Gujarat elections, the
11 rape convicts have been granted remission by the Gujarat authorities - another
attempt to appease the majority vote bank over the dignity of Bilkis Bano. From
Zaheera Shaikh, Kauser Bi, Ishrat Jahan, the story of injustices in Gujarat has found
women as the victims and the traumatised, over whose bodies Modi has fought and
won elections.
The release of the rapists, according to senior journalist Deepal Trivedi might be a
component of a wider scheme to appease the majority.
“We are aware of the way the BJP operates to strengthen majority politics; this may
be a part of a bigger project,” said Trivedi.
However, senior journalist Aditya Menon says that the release of the prisoners appears
to be geared towards making 2002 the focal point of the narrative surrounding the poll.
“In that aspect, it must be compared to the incarceration of activist Teesta Seetalvad
and the former director general of the Gujarat State Police, RB Sreekumar right after
the Supreme Court order.”
Menon believes that it might only have a slight impact on the elections, particularly in
Gujarat and the urban south and central regions, where the BJP is strong.
On being asked whether the Gujarat government will take back its decision on
releasing the convicts, Menon says that it is unlikely that the state government of
Gujarat will reverse its decision.
He added it would be surprising if the BJP central leadership was unaware of the
Gujarat government ruling, given how no step in the Gujarat government is taken
without the approval of the Modi-Shah duo.
Menon concurs that the most recent ruling appears to be focused at the Hindutva core.
Opposition Slams Modi Govt
Opposition slammed the BJP for its decision to release the convicts.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Gujarat government for approving the
release of murder and gangrape offenders under its previous remission policy.
He said that the entire country was watching the difference between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s words and his deeds.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted “those who raped a 5-month pregnant woman and killed her 3-
year-old girl were released during Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsa. What is the
message giving to the women of the country who are talking about women power?
Prime Minister, the whole country is seeing the difference between your words and
deeds.”
AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi said that the release of the convicts is a mockery
of Bilqis Bano’s struggle “These men committed a brutal crime. Their release is a
mockery of Bilqis Bano’s struggle. It reopens old wounds. BJP cannot hide behind
technicalities. Govt’s own policy & Centre’s guidelines bar rapists & CBI-
investigated convicts from being released.” he tweeted.
Arshi Qureshi is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.
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This is Modi India Anything is possible here. Shame on Modi