Indian Opposition Slams Order to Release 11 Convicts in Gang Rape & Murder, Urges Modi to Intervene

Mass incidents of murder, rape, and arson were reported at various locations during the 2002 Gujarat riots. In his address to the nation on India's Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the need to extend support to “Nari Shakti” (“women's power”), calling for a change in the mentality towards women in everyday life.

Congress parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the government over the release of 11 life-term convicts who were serving jail time for the rape of a Muslim woman, Bilkis Bano, and murdering her family members in 2002.

In a tweet in Hindi, Gandhi said, "Those who raped a 5-month-pregnant woman and killed her 3-year-old daughter were released during 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.' What is the message going out to the women of the country from those speaking of women empowerment[?]"

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the decision to release the rape convicts.

“Women are asking if respect for them is only restricted to speeches,” she stated.

Meanwhile, in a series of tweets earlier in the day, Telangana State Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to overturn the release order, and called for amendments to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC).

Telangana State Minister K.T. Rama Rao Urges PM Modi to Rescind Gujarat Government's Decision to Release 11 Rape Convicts

© Photo : Twitter/@KTRTRS

The Gujarat state government has defended its decision, saying it considered the release plea as per a 1992 policy, as directed by the Supreme Court, as it was effective at the time of the conviction in 2008, while the state government’s revised policy of 2014 would have made them ineligible for remission.

Who is Bilkis Bano?

Massive violence erupted in Gujarat in 2002 after the burning of a train coach in Godhra, where dozens of Hindu pilgrims, including women and children, were charred to death on their return journey from Ayodhya, a pilgrimage center in Uttar Pradesh. Narendra Modi was the state chief at the time.

The riots left over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, dead.

Bilkis Bano, a Muslim woman from Gujarat's Dahod district, was brutally gang-raped when she tried to flee her village along with her family. Bano, 21, was five months pregnant at the time she was raped. What is more, seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, were also killed by the perpetrators.

The 11 accused in Bano's case were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Mumbai in 2008. The decision was later upheld by the Bombay High Court.

In 2019, the Supreme Court of India even directed the Gujarat state government to pay INR 5 million ($62,958) to Bano as compensation, along with a house and a job.