Explained: Why were Bilkit Bano rapists released from jail?

Bilkit Bano rapist Eleven convicts sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of gang rape and murder of Bilkit Bano’s family walked free from Godhra jail on 15th August as India celebrated her 75th Independence Day. 

The Gujrat government approved the early release of eleven men convicted of life imprisonment for gang-raping a then five-month pregnant Bilkis Bano and murdering 15 members of her family, including three children, during the 2002 Gujrat riots. 

“A committee formed a few months back took a unanimous decision in favour of remission of all the 11 convicts in the case. The recommendation was sent to the state government, and yesterday we received the orders for their release,” said Sujal Mayatra, a panel member.

The convicts were welcomed with sweets, and visuals of locals touching their feet and conducting a tilak ceremony surfaced on social media on Tuesday. Bilkis Bano was at her home in Gujrat’s Devgadh Baria when the news broke out. To her, it seemed like the long fight of several years had been nullified in one moment. 

Bano’s husband, Yakoob Rasool, told the Indian Express, “We have been left numb, shocked and shaken. The battle we fought for so many years has been wrapped up in one moment. A sentence of life imprisonment given by the court has been curtailed in such a manner… We had never even heard of the word ‘remission’. We didn’t even know that such a process exists.”

The horrors only compounded for Bilkis as Radheshyam Shah, one of the convicts whose plea paved the way for this verdict, said he felt relieved to be released and couldn’t wait to begin a new life

What is the Bilkit Bano case?

On February 28, 2002, rioters set fire to the Sabarmati Express carrying karsevaks in Godhra station.

Fearing the outbreak of violence, a five-month pregnant Bilkis Bano fled from her village with her three-year-

old daughter, Sahela, and 15 other family members. 

Most of the attackers weren’t strangers to Bilkis. One was a bangle-seller in her town; another was the husband of a Gram Panchayat member. Bilkis had grown up with these men and recognized them instantly. 

What followed was a blood bath. Shailesh Bhatt, one of the accused, smashed Bilkit’s daughter’s head on the ground, killing her instantly. 

Bilkit remained the lone survivor.The Supreme Court of India and the National Human Rights Commission

took her case and ordered a CBI probe. 

Results of the case

The Special CBI court gave them a life-imprisonment sentence on January 21, 2008, for raping a pregnant

woman and murder and unlawful assembly under the Indian Penal Code. 

Judge Salvi, who oversaw the trial, said Bilkis was the courageous deposition as the turning point in the case. In 2017, the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of the eleven accused. 

Radheshyam Shah, one of the accused, filed a plea to the Gujrat High Court asking for the remission of the

sentence under sections 432 and 433 of the Code of Criminal procedure. 

When the Gujrat High Court dismissed his plea, he approached the Bombay High Court.

The court thus directed the Gujrat government to form a committee and look into the issue of the remission of his sentence.

The committee took a unanimous decision to free all the eleven convicts under the state’s old remission

committee that came into effect in 1992. The committee did not take into consideration the revised remission policy of 2014 that has detailed guidelines about categories of accused who can or cannot be given relief. 

Defending the decision, Gujrat’s Additional Chief Secretary, Raj Kumar, told PTI, “Since the conviction took

place in 2008, the SC directed us to consider this case under the 1992 policy, which was in effect in 2008. That policy did not have any specific clarity as to who can be given remission and who can’t. That policy was not that detailed in comparison to the 2014 policy,”