AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government has ordered release of all the 11 convicts who were undergoing lifer after convicted for gang rape and murder in much talked Bilkis Bano case of 2002 Godhra riots.
The convicts after spending over 15 years in jail walked out of jail after the State government has accepted the recommendation of a local committee headed by District Collector which decided to allow their remission after the Supreme Court directed the State authorities to decide on merit following a convict’s petition in the Supreme Court seeking premature release under the remission policy.
The convicts were awarded life imprisonment by a special CBI court in Mumbai in January 2008 on charges of gang-rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family during the post-Godhra communal riots in the State. On the instance of SC, the trial was shifted to Maharashtra where local court convict all accused and the conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court.
Bilkis Bano had survived the massacre and her case was one of the most important cases related to the 2002 riots which was probe successfully the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).