Once again, the Indian Muslim woman Bilkis Bano, victim in one of the most gruesome sexual assault cases in the country in recent history, has won her right at the Supreme Court. This time she didn't have to wait many years for it. On Monday morning, the chief justices decided that 11 men convicted of her gang rape and murder of her relatives should return to prison. Their parole, in August 2022, is reversed.
It is the latest development in the infamous case, which continues to stir emotions in India. In March 2002, Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and pregnant when she went to visit family in the state of Gujarat. At the time, there were violent riots and manhunts against Muslims, whom the attackers blamed for a train disaster that killed sixty Hindus. Bano, her parents and others fled when men invaded their village. A group of neighbors found the company anyway. Fourteen people were killed, including Bano's three-year-old daughter and six other family members. She herself was brutally raped by several men; she lost consciousness and was left for dead.
Police opposition
In 2008, eleven men were sentenced to life in prison for the atrocities. Bano had to endure another ordeal during the judicial process. She faced opposition from police officers and other officials. Ultimately, the Supreme Court referred the case to a court elsewhere in the country, because a trial in Gujarat was in danger of not being fair. Only then were arrests made.
The early release last year was a decision by a court in Gujarat – which, the Supreme Court now says, has no jurisdiction to do so. 'The competent authority to grant remission is the State where the offender was convicted, not the government of the State where the crime occurred', according to the verdict. The eleven convicts have been given two weeks by the Supreme Court to report back to prison.
An uncle of the victim stated to be relieved about the decision. To the Supreme Court Bano previously told the release of the men “has paralyzed me.”
The rape case made a huge impression on the Indian public. The fact that the men were released early due to 'good behavior' and the time served – fourteen years of the life sentences – also caused a great deal of commotion last summer. Not just Bilkis Bano, either human rights organizations and citizens asked the Supreme Court to review that decision.
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