Indian rape survivor Bilkis Bano during a press conference in New Delhi. Image:Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images
India’s Supreme Court mandates 11 men, convicted of murder and gang rape, to return to jail post early release.
The Supreme court of India ruled on Monday to send back to prison 11 men who had been found guilty of gang raping a pregnant Muslim lady during Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002, overturning the state government’s decision to release them.
As members of a Hindu mob, the men received life sentences for the gang rape of 21-year-old Bilkis Bano, who was pregnant at the time. Fourteen members of her family, including her 3-year-old daughter, were slain by the same mob.
After serving 14 years in prison, they were freed in August 2022 as a result of a decision reached by an advisory council appointed by the Gujarat state administration, which is headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, that ruling was overturned by India’s Supreme Court on Monday, and the men were told to return to jail authorities in two weeks.
The court decided that because the trial and sentencing took place in the state of Maharashtra, the Gujarat government was “lacking in competency” to provide the remission orders.
Supporters of Bano, who had denounced the men’s release as an assault on women’s rights in a nation where official statistics indicate a woman is raped every 17 minutes, rejoiced over the decision.
This ruling has restored the rule of law. Shobha Gupta, Bano’s attorney, praised Bilkis and those of us who supported and battled for her following the decision.
The decision was also commended by Aparna Bhat, an attorney representing one of the case’s petitioners.
“We truly commend the judges for their interpretation of the entire legal provision and for their unequivocal directive that the accused person surrender,” Bhat remarked. “The Supreme Court rendered an incredible ruling in this remarkable case.”
The crimes against Bano happened in Gujarat, India, in February 2002 during religious riots that erupted as hostilities between the Muslim minority and the Hindu majority grew.
More over a thousand people died as a result of the riots, most of them being Muslims.
Bano said in court that her family was attacked by individuals with swords, sticks, and sickles, even though an investigation determined that former Chief Minister Narendra Modi was not to blame for the riots.
Her young daughter and other female relatives were raped and subjected to severe abuse. The assailants were given life sentences for rape and murder following a 2008 trial.
But when the state government freed them in August 2022, citing a clause granting freedom after 14 years, it sparked demonstrations across the country. The judgement was allegedly influenced by political, sexist, and religious biases, according to critics.