Roll Back Remission of Rapists and Murderers of Bilkis Bano Case
While Prime Minister Modi was making a speech on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Independence, the convicted rapists and murderers in the heinous Bilkis Bano case of 2002 in Gujarat were being released from the jail in Gujarat, causing shock and distress across the country. BJP people organized events at various places to welcome the remissioned convicts and honour them with garlanding, 'arati' and 'tilak'. This was an open and public demonstration of the BJP-RSS gang's extreme hatred towards women and Muslims.
The Bilkis Bano case was one in which the CBI investigation was monitored by the Supreme Court. As Bilkis Bano received death threats in Gujarat, the case was transferred to Maharashtra. In 2008 a special court in Mumbai convicted 11 accused persons and awarded them life sentence in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of 7 of her family members. The sentence was confirmed by the Bombay High Court and then the Supreme Court.
This year one of the convicts petitioned the Supreme Court for remission based on a 1992 policy, whereas the said 1992 remission policy had already been cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2012 and accordingly the Gujarat government also cancelled it on 8 May 2013. Thus the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to these convicts cannot be held legal from any angle. Further, as this case was tried in Maharashtra, it was incumbent on the Gujarat government to consult the Maharashtra government also.
The remission of all the 11 convicts sentenced to life puts a question mark not only on the Central and Gujarat governments but also begs many questions of the Supreme Court.
Nationwide protests are being held against this huge injustice done to India’s justice system, democracy and rights of the minorities and women demanding immediate roll back of this illegal remission and to put all eleven rapists and murders back in jail for life.
Protest in Patna
A citizens' protest was organized in Patna on 26 August where people gathered at Buddha Park in large numbers to condemn the release order of the convicts. Citizens of Patna condemned the release of these criminals on the 75th Independence Day shaming the nation and asked, why is the Prime Minister silent? They said that this is an extremely contemptible attempt by the BJP to establish rape culture.
The citizens' protest was addressed by deputy leader of CPIML legislative group Satyadev Ram, CPI-M state secretariat member Arun Mishra, PUCL leader Sarfaraz, JSM leader Samta Rai, AIPWA leader Anita Sinha, AIDWA leader Rampari Devi, Paliganj MLA Sandeep Saurabh, AISA leader Aditya Ranjan, poet Khurshid Akbar and Insaf Manch leader Asma Khan. Present on the occasion were leaders and activists including Anil Anshuman, Rajaram, Ghalib, Abhay Pandey, umesh Singh, Shambhunath, Sanjay Yadav and Asharfi Das. The meeting was conducted by AIPF leader Kamlesh Sharma. The speakers condemned the release of the convicted rapists and murderers in the Bilkis Bano case causing shock and distress across the country. They said that the releasing convicts and honouring them with 'arati', 'tilak', garlands and sweets was an open demonstration of the BJP-RSS gang's extreme hatred towards women and Muslims.
The release of these convicts is a crime being perpetrated by the BJP on the 75th anniversary of the country's Independence. The whole country must stand up against the BJP's arrogant abuse of power and murder of hopes for justice. We demand the immediate roll back of the order to release Bilkis Bano's rapists and murderers of her family members.
Delhi
Many organizations including CPIML, AIPWA, AISA, AIDWA, NFIW, NAPM, among others, held a protest demonstration on 27 August at Jantar Mantar.
Shweta Raj from CPIML, said that 15 August stands for struggle, sacrifice, Hindu-Muslim unity, and martyrdom in our country’s history. She said, “Something shameful happened on 15 August this year. The people who had raped Bilkis Bano were released and were welcomed back with sweets, garland and tilak. Their conviction was the result of a long struggle, and this is a clear case of violation of justice.” The men had gangraped Bano in a village near Ahmedabad on March 3, 2002, during the riots in Gujarat. She was 19 and pregnant at the time. Fourteen members of her family were also killed in the violence, including her three-year-old daughter whose head was smashed on the ground by the perpetrators.
Citizens have been protesting since the day the convicts were released. At Jantar Mantar, the demonstration was addressed by senior activists including Kavita Krishnan, Shabana Azmi, Maimoonah Mollah, Subhashini Ali, Gauhar Raza, Shabnam Hashmi, and others.
Karnataka
In rage against the release of the 11 rapists and murderers convicted to life imprisonment for the gang-rape of a pregnant Muslim woman – Bilkis Bano, thousands of protestors gathered at Freedom Park, Bengaluru on August 27. Under the banner of “Karnataka for Bilkis”, several concerned citizens, women’s organisation, trade unions, student unions, advocates, transgender groups, artists and the general public took part in the protest. The protestors condemned the remission of sentence and demanded that the same be invalidated and that the convicts release be immediately sent back to the prison to complete their full life term sentence.
Maitreyi Krishnan, CPIML leader in Karnataka, who addressed the gathering spoke about how the remission is illegal, inhuman and against the fundamental values of the Indian Constitution. “These are people who have committed heinous crime against humanity and have shown no signs of remorse. This act in itself is a sign of continuation of the violence that took place in Gujarat in 2002. Bilkis’ struggle for justice has been rendered meaningless by granting them remission. We absolutely condemn this,” she said.
Junaid, from All India Students Association Karnataka, spoke about how these 11 convicts were released when we were to remember the martyrs of the freedom struggle and take inspiration from them to resist the fascist forces in the country today. “To the contrary, the Sangh Parivar is garlanding and rejoicing the release of criminals who have committed barbaric and heinous crimes against the minorities in this country. What message are they sending out to the citizens of this country by granting such “independence” to these convicts? They are openly telling us today that violence against minorities will be given state protection,” he said while addressing the gathering.
West Bengal
Several protests took place in West Bengal demanding to revoke the reprehensible decision made by BJP-led Gujarat Government. Protest demonstrations and street corners were conducted by AIPWA, AISA and RYA at Belgharia, Budge Budge, Siliguri, Jadavpur. Postering was done at different locations of Howrah district. These activities helped to spread awareness amongst people about the severe implications of releasing 11 rape and murder convicts of Bilkis Bano.
While addressing the crowd in Jadavpur, AIPWA West Bengal state secretary Indrani Dutta said, “The decision of remission by Gujarat Government is part of a greater conspiracy of RSS to transform India into Hindu-rashtra. AIPWA salutes the courage that Bilkis Bano has shown in front of state inflicted terror. We are in solidarity with Bilkis and we salute her fight for justice. People like Bilkis will only strengthen the fight to uphold the democratic rights of Indian citizens guarded by our constitution.” AIPWA member Sampriti said, ”It is not a co-incidence that the decision was announced on the eve of 75th anniversary of India’s independence. This shows that the kind of ‘azadi’ (freedom) BJP is propagating is very different from the ‘azadi’ that the freedom fighters of our country fought for. BJP is encouraging freedom of rapists which is a major setback to the women’s rights that were earned after long and rigorous struggles led by feminist movements.
The injustice that Bilkis has faced, indicates the status of women in today’s India. Our dignity can be denied for the sake of ‘sanskari’ men. If we let BJP to set this precedence then the implications will be huge and women from all religion, caste and creed will be affected. Its clear that the Prime Minister lies when he talks about empowerment of Narishakti and he must apologise to Bilkis for the torment that she is facing.”
