On Thursday, the Bombay High Court upheld judgment in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case of 2002. The court pronounced closure to the case by punishing the 11 accused with a life sentence. The court, however, did not pronounce any judgment about the other accused in the case. This includes Gujarat police officers and also government hospital officials and doctors.
The court said that they will consider the time the accused spent in jail as part of the sentence and also fine them in the case. The convicted were pronounced a life sentence by a trial court in 2008. Bilkis Bano was raped in the Godhra riots of 2002, her family was killed in the same attacks. She filed a case in the high court and challenged the conviction.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had appealed for the death penalty for the three accused in Bano’s rape and murder of her family. The court set aside this plea by Bano and CBI for enhancement. Hiten Venegaonkar, who appeared in the court on behalf of the CBI said that the case was a ‘mass murder’ as 14 members of Bano’s family were killed. The 14 also included babies that were days old.
The riots in 2002 led to people fleeing the Godhra town, and while Bano’s family was on the run, they were raped and murdered. This case earned the situation of being the ‘rarest of rare’ and hence demanded maximum punishment for the crimes. These events were questioned by Harshad Ponda, representing the convicts, for their authenticity. He saidthe FIR registered by Gujrat Police, the story narrated by Bilkis and the photographs of dead bodies and pieces of evidence from the spot were not matching. The court also rejected Bano’s application which requests access that she be granted a hearing.
