Justice for Bilkis Bano: KCR's party urges CJI to intervene over rapists' release

Hyderabad: Amid the ongoing justice campaign for gang-rape survivor Bilkis Bano, whose perpetrators have recently been released from the Godhra jail under the Gujarat government’s new remission policy, Telangana MLC K Kavitha on Friday wrote to Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana urging for Supreme Court’s intervention in Gujarat government’s controversial decision, ANI reported. The state government’s move to let go of the convicts has triggered massive outrage in the country. The Gujarat government on August 15 released the 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang rape of 19-year-old Bilkis Bano and the murder of many of her family members during the deadly 2002 Gujarat riots.

"I am writing to you with a heavy heart regarding the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots where the Gujarat government released 11 convicts, relying on a 1992 policy following the direction of the Supreme Court, while the State government`s revised policy of 2014 would have made them ineligible for remission," Kavitha wrote in a letter to Chief Justice.

The TRS leader also highlighted relevant technical and legal points and noted that the case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and it was the Special CBI Court that sentenced the convicts.

"Section 435 (1) (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code states that the power of the state government to remit or commute a sentence in any case which was investigated by the CBI shall not be exercised by the state government, except after consultation with the central government. Whether the release of the 11 convicts, in this case, was done in consultation with the Central Government is unclear," the letter further read.

Earlier on Thursday, K Kavitha sought Supreme Court`s intervention and slammed the Gujarat government`s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case related to Bilkis Bano`s gang-rape and murder of her kin during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In March 2002 during the post-Godhra riots, Bano was allegedly gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter. She was five months pregnant when rioters attacked her family in Vadodara.

(With ANI inputs)