Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday (August 17, 2022) lashed out at the Centre over the early release of all the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots. TMC MP hit out at the central government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership and said that the premature release of the convicts has shaken faith in justice and left her numb.


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“How can justice for any woman end like this? Amit Shah? Narendra Modi? India? Indians?” Mahua Moitra said in a tweet.



“Pregnant mother’s child snatched from her belly and other child killed in front of her. These rapists and murderers feted after being let out in shortest possible time. And we are lectured on how to respect women?” Moitra asked in another tweet which was an indirect reference to the Independence Day speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he urged people to pledge not to do anything that lowers the dignity of women.


“This nation had better decide whether Bilkis Bano is a woman or a Muslim,” she further said.


Release of convicts has shaken my faith in justice: Bilkis Bano


Bilkis Bano herself has questioned the release of the convicts saying their coming out of jail has made her feel insecure. Bilkis Bano said the premature release of all the 11 convicts serving life sentence in a case related to her and seven family members, has shaken her faith in justice and left her numb.


She has appealed to the Gujarat government to “undo this harm” and give back her right to “live without fear and in peace.”


“On August 15, 2022, the trauma of the past 20 years washed over me again when I heard that the 11 convicted men who devastated my family and my life and took from me my three-year-old daughter had walked free,” she said in a statement released by her lawyer Sobha.


About Bilkis Bano case


Meanwhile, all the 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang rape case walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15.


The 11 accused -- Radheshyam Shah, Jaswant Chaturbhai Nai, Keshubhai Vadaniya, Bakabhai Vadaniya, Rajibhai Soni, Rameshbhai Chauhan, Shaileshbhai Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Govindbhai Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradip Modhiya -- walked out of jail on Monday.


Bilkis was 20 years old and five months pregnant at the time she was subjected to brutality by men. She referred to one of them as ‘Chacha’ (uncle) and others as brothers. She was gang-raped and left almost lifeless. She saw her family members being killed. Her three-year-old daughter was also murdered by the mob on March 3, 2002.


(With agency inputs)