Students protest against the release, of men convicted of gang-raping and killing Muslims (Photo: Imtiyaz Khan/Anadolu Agency)
Sajeda Haider
Even as India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi extolled the virtues of respect and women’s empowerment to mark the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence on August 15, 11 men convicted of gang rape and murder of Muslims were released in his home state of Gujarat.
The men were released under a remission policy by a government run by his Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The men had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang rape of five Muslim women and 14 murders of Muslim men, women and children during the anti-Muslim pogrom in the western state of Gujarat in February 2002.
Among the victims were a 3-year-old girl and a 1-day-old baby. As the convicts emerged from the Godhra sub-jail in Gujarat they were greeted as heroes with floral wreaths and sweets by members of the World Hindu Council, a group affiliated with the far-right RSS, the ideological head of the BJP.
BJP lawmaker Raulji Chandrasinh Kanaksinh defended the release of the murderous rapists, arguing that “they are Brahmins[highest caste members] … the sanskar [behaviour] of Brahmins is very good”.
The release and celebration of the convicts have been criticised by civil and women’s rights activists, and opposition parties who have demanded a revocation of the remission. The heinous crime occurred at Randhikpur village in the Dahod district of Gujarat on March 3, 2002, when a mob attacked a group of Muslims, raped the women and killed the men, women and children with swords, dousing them with petrol and setting them alight.
The complainant Bilkis Bano, 5 months pregnant at the time, was gang raped and left for dead. She had witnessed the murder of seven of her family members killed, including her 3-year-old daughter.
Many such brutalities occured against Muslims across Gujarat during the few days following the burning of a compartment of the Sabarmati Express train at Godhra Station on February 27, 2002.
Hindu nationalist claimed the train was torched by Muslims and that the 59 dead were Hindu pilgrims, an assertion refuted by forensic experts. This triggered a massive pogrom in which 3,000 Muslims were brutally killed and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes and live in refugee camps for months.
The police and state machinery played a dubious role, refusing to help Muslims, and, in some cases, even directed Hindu mobs to their locations. Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, is accused of acts of omission and commission, allowing such mayhem to continue for days under his watch. Having survived Bilkis filed a case against her assailants.
In most of the other cases of rape and murder, the police played a partisan role and refused to accept complaints lodged by Muslims. They also undermined cases by labelling the perpetrators as ‘unknown mobs’ even though the victims identified their attackers.
Determined to secure justice for her unborn child, her toddler and other murdered family members, Bilkis persisted with the case, and the accused were finally arrested in 2004.
The trial began in Ahmedabad, Gujarat; however, after Bilkis expressed fears that witnesses could be harmed and the evidence collected by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) tampered with, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai.
A special CBI court in Mumbai found the 11 accused guilty of gang rape and murder and, on January 21, 2008, sentenced them to life imprisonment. After several appeals, the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction in 2018.
Hearing of the release, Bilkis said, “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 3-year-old daughter, had walked free. I was bereft of words. I am still numb.”
“How can justice for any woman end like this? I trusted the highest courts in our land. I trusted the system, and I was learning slowly to live with my trauma. The release of these convicts has taken my peace and shaken my faith in justice. My sorrow and my wavering faith are not for me alone, but for every woman who is struggling for justice in the courts,” said Bilkis.
“I appeal to the Gujarat Government, please undo this harm. Give me back my right to live without fear and in peace. Please ensure that my family and I are kept safe,” she pleaded.
Leaders of India’s opposition party, Congress, criticised the remission and juxtaposed it with Modi’s sermon on women’s empowerment.
“Release by the BJP government of criminals convicted of raping a pregnant woman and killing her daughter, a judgment upheld by all courts — isn’t this the climax of injustice and insensitivity? Mr Narendra Modi, women are asking— is respect for women restricted to speeches only?” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary and daughter of the slain former PM, Rajiv Gandhi, tweeted.
Her brother Rahul Gandhi, former President of the Congress Party, tweeted, “Those who raped a five-month pregnant woman and killed her 3-year-old daughter were released amid Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (Celebration of Freedom) … What’s the message to the women of the country by the leader who lies about women’s empowerment? Prime Minister, the entire country is witnessing the disparity between your words and deeds.”
Many marches and protests were held across the country, with rights groups accusing the Modi Government of “letting down every woman in the country”.
A coalition of 6,000 activists, institutions, including the National Alliance of People’s Movements, women’s groups, and left-wing parties, endorsed a statement urging the Supreme Court to revoke the remission, arguing that legal justice had been reversed. “The Centre must prevail upon the Gujarat government to withdraw the order and revoke the remission.
The accused must serve a life term as required by the HC verdict,” said the statement. According to the Gujarat government, the decision to overturn the life sentences was made following the 1992 remission policy.
The opposition, however, points out that Modi had dispensed with the policy as Gujarat’s Chief Minister in 2013.
Furthermore, a 2014 directive issued by the Union Home Ministry to all state governments stated that certain types of convicts, including those found guilty of rape and murder, are ineligible for pardon.
The question was raised whether the Gujarat government’s decision to release rapists and murderers was taken, as it is necessary, with the consent of the PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, both men have yet to comment on the case.
