New Delhi: Human rights groups and Muslim representatives have expressed outrage over the release of 11 men serving life sentences for gang rape and murder during the 2002 Gujarat riots that killed over 1,000 people, the majority of whom were Muslims.
On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano was gang-raped, and 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter Saleha, were massacred by the mob in the Limkheda area of Dahod district.
Visuals shared on social media showed the convicts being greeted with sweets by their relatives after they were released. Relatives also touched their feet for blessings. Indian activists and politicians have condemned the court’s decision.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed Gujarat government for allowing the release of gangrape and murder convicts under its old remission policy. Gandhi said that the entire country is seeing the difference between PM Modi’s “words and deeds” since the convicts were released hours after the BJP leader talked about ‘Naari Shakti’, or women power, during his Independence Day speech. Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh called the decision “brazenly shameless”. Senior lawyer Anand Yagnik said that “the remission of the sentence of convicts of a gruesome crime like gang rape and murder is morally and ethically improper,” adding: “What is the signal we are trying to send?” Feminist Kavita Krishnan wrote a Twitter message directed at the prime minister questioning whether his support for women ended when a woman was Muslim.
CPI(M) also strongly condemned the release of the convicts, saying “this is the real face of New India- convicted killers and rapists released” and activist Teesta Setalvad “who fought for justice was jailed”. Secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) Krishnan pointed out that it has become commonplace for Hindu-supremacists to openly give calls for genocide and rape of Muslims without any consequences these days. “Will PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah care to comment on this decision? Do we really believe that this decision was taken without the blessing of these two topmost leaders of the BJP? #IndiaAt75 became a day of shame for India’s women, because BJP chose to make it a day to free Bilkis’ rapists.”
President AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi, also accused Modi and BJP, which still rules the state of Gujarat, of being indifferent to crimes against women when the victims are Muslim. The release of 11 men serving life term for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots, is “appeasement politics” ahead of the state elections in Gujarat. “It is more unfortunate as the Prime Minister talked about more power to women from Red Fort on the Independence Day. It is sending a wrong message to the Muslim community and sets a wrong precedent.” Indian judiciary is only complimenting and facilitating the implementation of fascist policies of the ruling class while being indifferent to the miseries of the common citizens. Web Desk
