No justification: Devendra Fadnavis on Bilkis Bano convicts’ felicitation

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai,
Aug
23:
The
convicts
in
the
2002
Bilkis
Bano
case
of
Gujarat
were
released
following
a
Supreme
Court
order,
but
it
was
wrong
if
a
person
accused
of
a
crime
is
“felicitated” and
there
can
be
no
justification
for
such
an
act,
said
Maharashtra
Deputy
Chief
Minister
Devendra
Fadnavis
on
Tuesday.

Replying
to
a
discussion
in
the
Legislative
Council
on
an
incident
in
the
Bhandara
district,
where
a
35-year-old
woman
was
sexually
assaulted
allegedly
by
three
people,
he
said
there
was
no
reason
to
raise
the
Bilkis
Bano
issue
in
the
House.

“The
accused
have
been
freed
after
completing
nearly
20
years…14
years
in
jail.
The
release
has
been
done
after
a
Supreme
Court
order.
But
it
is
wrong
if
any
accused
is
felicitated
and
welcomed.
An
accused
is
an
accused
and
there
can
be
no
justification
for
this
(act),”
said
Mr
Fadnavis,
who
is
also
the
home
minister.

On
August
15,
all
the
11
convicts
sentenced
to
life
imprisonment
in
the
case
of
Bilkis
Bano’s
gang
rape
and
murder
of
her
seven
family
members
during
the
2002
communal
riots
walked
out
of
the
Godhra
sub-jail
after
the
BJP
government
in
Gujarat
allowed
their
premature
release
under
its
remission
policy.

They
were
welcomed
with
garlands
following
their
release
from
jail.

The
Bharatiya
Janata
Party
(BJP),
whose
MLAs
were
on
the
Gujarat
government-appointed
remission
committee,
faced
flak
over
the
release
of
the
convicts
and
the
welcome
accorded
to
them.

A
special
Central
Bureau
of
Investigation
(CBI)
court
in
Mumbai
on
January
21,
2008,
sentenced
the
eleven
accused
to
life
imprisonment
on
the
charge
of
gang
rape
and
murder
of
seven
members
of
the
family
of
Bilkis
Bano,
a
riot
survivor.

Distasteful:
Ex-judge
on
panel
that
released
Bilkis
Bano’s
rapists

Their
conviction
was
later
upheld
by
the
Bombay
High
Court.

These
convicts
had
served
more
than
15
years
in
jail
after
which
one
of
them
approached
the
Supreme
Court
with
a
plea
for
his
premature
release.

The
top
court
had
directed
the
Gujarat
government
to
look
into
the
issue
of
remission
of
his
sentence
as
per
its
1992
policy
on
the
basis
of
the
date
of
his
conviction.

Thereafter,
the
government
formed
a
committee
and
issued
an
order
allowing
premature
release
of
all
the
convicts
from
jail.