Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has reserved
the judgement on the bail pleas of seven convicts in the 2002
Bilkis Bano gang-rape case.
All the seven were sentenced to life imprisonment by the
trial court in 2008 following which they have filed appeals
against the verdict and sought bail pending the disposal of
appeals.
The High Court has already admitted an appeal filed by
the CBI, seeking death penalty for three of the convicts.
The arguments concluded before the division bench of
Justices NH Patil and Mridula Bhatkar yesterday.
On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano`s family was attacked by a
mob at Randhikpur village, about 250 kms from Ahmedabad,
during the post-Godhra riots.
Eight members of the family were killed. Bilkis was
gang-raped, while six other members of her family went
missing.
The Supreme Court had ordered a re-trial of the case in
Mumbai.
The defence argued before the High Court that Bilkis had
not told the police in her first statement that she had been
gang-raped, nor did she name any accused, so the accused must
get a benefit of doubt.
But CBI`s lawyer said that Bilkis did tell police about
the rape and her version was not properly recorded by the
police. Some policemen too were made accused, the agency
pointed out.
PTI
