All the eleven convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the
2002 post-Godhra Bilkis Bano gang rape case on Monday walked out of the Godhra
sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission
policy, an official said.
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 Bilkis Bano's family.
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 apex court had directed the Gujarat government to look
into the issue of remission of his sentence following which the government
formed a committee, said Panchmahals Collector Sujal Mayatra, who headed the
panel.
"A committee formed a few months back took a unanimous
decision in favour of remission of all the 11 convicts in the case. The
recommendation was sent to the state government, and yesterday we received the
orders for their release," said Mayatra.
Bilkis Bano's family members were attacked by a mob at
Randhikpur village in Limkheda taluka of the Dahod district during the
post-Godhra riots on March 3, 2002.
Bilkis Bano, who was five months pregnant at that time, was
gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed. Six other members
managed to run away, the court was told.
The accused in the case were arrested in 2004.
The trial began in Ahmedabad. However, after Bilkis Bano
expressed apprehensions that witnesses could be harmed and the evidence
collected by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) tampered with, the
Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai in August 2004.
The special CBI court on January 21, 2008, sentenced the
eleven accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of
seven members of Bilkis Bano's family.
In its 2018 order upholding the conviction of the accused
persons, the Bombay High Court also set aside the acquittal of seven persons in
the case.
The 11 convicts who were granted premature release are
Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhesham Shah, Bipin Chandra
Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni,
Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana.
One of them, Radheshyam Shah, had approached the Gujarat High
Court seeking remission of the sentence under sections 432 and 433 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure.
The high court dismissed his plea while observing that the
"appropriate government" to decide about his remission is Maharashtra
and not Gujarat.
Shah then filed a plea in the Supreme Court pleading that he
had been in jail for 15 years and 4 months without remission as of April 1,
2022.
In its order dated May 13, the top court stated that since
the crime was committed in Gujarat, the state of Gujarat was the appropriate
government to examine Shah's application.
The SC directed the Gujarat government to consider the application
for premature release in terms of the policy dated July 9, 1992 and may decide
within two months.
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