Bilkis Bano was gang raped and seven members of her household had been killed. Image for illustration goal solely. File
| Photo Credit: G. Ramakrishna
One of the convicts within the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape and homicide of her relations case, freed final yr underneath Gujarat’s remission coverage, has shared the stage with BJP MP Jaswant Bhabhor and his MLA brother Shailesh Bhabhor at a government event held at Limkheda in Dahod district of the State.
When contacted and requested whether or not he attended this system on Saturday, the convict, Shailesh Bhatt, stated he went there for “puja” ritual however refused to elaborate.
Also Read | Bilkis Bano case: Eleven convicts stroll out of jail
Bhatt was seen in a photograph shared by Shailesh Bhabhor on his Twitter account, with a caption asserting the muse laying programme for the Kadana dam bulk pipeline mission value roughly ₹101.89 crore.
“I went there for puja,” Bhatt stated.
He was additionally seen standing subsequent to Jaswant Bhabhor, a former Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, in a photograph shared by the Dahod district info division.
Following their conviction by a particular CBI courtroom in Mumbai in 2008 on the cost of gang rape and homicide of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s household, Bhatt and 10 others had been serving a life sentence within the Godhra sub-jail in Panchmahal district of Gujarat.
Also Read | Justice, not revenge, was my goal, says Bilkis Bano
All 11 convicts walked out of the sub-jail on August 15, 2022, after the incarceration of 15 years because the Gujarat Government allowed their untimely launch underneath its remission coverage, inflicting an outcry.
Their launch was challenged within the Supreme Court, which on March 22 directed the matter for pressing itemizing and constituted a brand new bench to listen to the bunch of pleas. The matter will come up for listening to on Monday.
The case dates again to 2002 when communal violence erupted in Gujarat following the burning of a Sabarmati Express coach that killed 59 ‘karsevaks ‘on February 27 that yr.
Bilkis Bano, who was five-month pregnant at that point and 21 years outdated, had fled her village with her toddler daughter and 15 others. On March 3, they took shelter in a subject when a mob of 20-30 folks armed with sickles, swords and sticks attacked them. Bilkis Bano was gang raped and seven members of her household had been killed.
