Indian Supreme Court To Hear Plea Against Release Of Balquis Bano Gang Rape convicts

Gujarat
Riots: Indian Supreme Court To Hear Plea Against Release Of Balquis Bano Gang
Rape convicts

Source: News Agencies

Bilquis Bano was pregnant when she was gang-raped during communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.

India's Supreme Court will hear a petition challenging the release of 11 men convicted of gang-raping pregnant Balquis Bano during 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in the western state of Gujarat.

Last Monday, authorities in Gujarat's Panch Mahal district released the men after considering the time they had served since their conviction in 2008 and their behavior while in jail. However, critics say her expulsion contradicts the government's stated policy of advancing women in a country with numerous, well-documented examples of violence against them.

The court on Tuesday agreed orally to hear a public interest petition to quash the state's remission order to release the men, said Kapil Sibal, a lawyer representing a group of women.

The women include Subhashini Ali, an Indian politician and member of the Communist Party of India, Revati Laul, an independent journalist, and Mahua Moitra, a member of parliament from the opposition Trinamool Congress Party, Sibal said.

The plea said the men should serve their entire life sentences.

The 2002 violence in Gujarat was one of India's worst religious riots, killing more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.

Months of riots erupted after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire. Hindus blamed Muslims for setting the fire, but the Muslims said the attack on the train was part of a conspiracy to attack their community.

During the riots, the 11 people, all Hindus, gang-raped a pregnant woman, while her three-year-old daughter was among the 14 people killed by the mob.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat's chief minister at the time of the riots and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party rules the state.

Bano's husband, Yaqub Rasool, had said that he had not been told by the courts and the government that the convicts would be released, and that this had weakened his faith in justice.