By BETWA SHARMA / Article14
Delhi: “This is very traumatic. This is troubling. This has opened up the wounds.”
Shobha Gupta, who has been a lawyer for 27 years, was visibly disturbed, as she sat down for an interview with Article 14 about the Gujarat government’s decision to release 11 men convicted for gang-raping her client Bilkis Bano and murdering 14 members of her family during the communal riots that ravaged the state in Gujarat in 2002.
Bilkis, now in her forties, was five months pregnant when she was raped in the state, run then and now by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of then chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her three-year-old daughter was among the dead, her head smashed with a stone. An estimated 1,000 people—most of them Muslim were killed in the riots that erupted in Gujarat after a train carrying Hindu karsevaks was set on fire, killing 59 of them.
As she discussed the legal remedies now available to Bilkis, who fought for 17 years to see the men who raped her behind bars, Gupta said it was time for the state and society at large to step up to ensure the Gujarat government “undo” the decision taken by the state-appointed jail advisory committee, including five office bearers of the BJP and two state lawmakers because the decision had a profound impact on not just her client, but every woman in India.
“One is solidarity, and the second is opposition to the order—solidarity to Bilkis and telling the govt concerned that we are not accepting this order as a society. So, undo it with whatever you mean you have,” said Gupta.
In a statement released through Gupta two days after the men were released, Bano said she was “bereft of words” and numb”.
“Today, I can only say this—how can justice for any woman end like this? I trusted the highest courts in our land. I trusted the system, and I was slowly learning to live with my trauma. The release of these convicts has taken from me my peace and shaken my faith in justice. My sorrow and my wavering faith are not for myself alone but for every woman struggling for justice in the courts,” Bano said. “I appeal to the Gujarat government, please undo this harm. Give me back my right to live without fear and in peace. Please ensure that my family and I are kept safe.”
The 11 men investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), following an attempted cover-up of the murders by the Gujarat police, were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2008 by a special court in Mumbai. In the years that followed, the conviction and sentence were upheld by the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court, which also dismissed a petition to review the case and ordered the Gujarat government to pay Rs 50 lakh as compensation to Bano and give her a house in a place of her choosing and a government job.
In October 2020, the Gujarat government told the Supreme Court that Rs 50 lakh and a job were given to Bano, but when it came to the land and the job—a peon’s post in the irrigation department on contract—Gupta said Bano was not satisfied and “loose ends have to be tweaked”. “She was not comfortable going among men. She is still in different frame of mind,” Gupta said.
Acknowledging the nature of the crimes committed and Bilkis’ long and arduous journey for justice, the Supreme Court said, “While the state eventually punished the perpetrators of the crime, the victim was left devastated after seeing human fury at its worst… Not only was she raped 22 times, her daughter aged 3.2 years, was smashed to death. Ever since the appellant has been living a nomadic life and surviving at the charity of NGOs.”
Following a petition filed by one of the convicted men, Radheshyam Shah, who said he spent 15 years and four months in jail and qualified for early release, the Supreme Court in May ordered the Gujarat government to assess within two months if he qualified for remission under the state’s 1991 policy, in effect when he was sentenced in 2008, following which the 11 men were released on 15 August. The 2014 state policy bars remission for prisoners convicted of rape and murder.
The convicted men, who returned to Randhikpur village where Bilkis continues live with her family, were greeted with garlands and sweets by members of the Hindu-right wing groups. Speaking with the news website, Mojo, the BJP MP from Godhra, CK Raulji, said that he did not know whether the men committed the crime or not, but they were Brahmins with good values.
In this interview, Gupta spoke of the “trauma” the state of Gujarat had inflicted on Bano and her family, the danger and insecurity they would have to contend with again, and why having the remission order rescinded was the responsibility of either the state government or the central government or bodies mandated by the constitution to protect human rights.
Three years ago, we sat in this office and talked about you securing the highest ever compensation (Rs 50 lakh) for a rape survivor in India. You said that it should have been a crore. Today, the men who gang-raped Bilkis are free.
It’s only been three years since they started to learn to live in peace. Her eldest daughter, the one who was in her womb in 2002, wants to become a lawyer. The other day, I told Yakub to send her to Delhi and let’s make her a lawyer. To come back from this point to a remission order that permits 11 of her rapists, who have murdered members of her family, to come back to the same village she lives in—how should she deal with it? How should we deal with it? How sad is it? Is this what life imprisonment means?
At the time, we thought about appealing against lesser punishment—14 murders, five gang-rapes, a pregnant woman gang raped—we felt life imprisonment was mild and inadequate for the heinous offence.
But the thought was that let peace come, let her live peacefully now, let us accept the judgment and allow the matter to have closure. We never expected to come back to zero in three years. This is a 360-degree turnaround.
Do you mean the death penalty?
We have seen cases where the death penalty has been given for a single murder. This was a serious crime. Fourteen murders, gang rapes, the gang rape of a pregnant woman and her child thrashed on a stone and murdered in front of her eyes. What more should there be for it to be a death penalty case? In my practice of 25-26 years, this was 100% a death penalty case.
But shouldn’t remission and rehabilitation of convicts—even those convicted for rape and murder—be looked at favourably?
Absolutely. Every single accused has the right to ask for remission. You are right that we have a reformative penal system. We believe in reformation. If the person is reformed, the person can return to society and live like others. The only thing missing in this executive order is reasonability and the application of the mind to overall factors. At what cost do you allow for people to come back and when? In gross cases, gruesome crimes, and grievous offences, you must have checks and balances to ensure everyone is safe. You need to guarantee they are not a threat to society.
This story was originally published in article-14.com . Read the full story here