According to a resident of Gujarat’s Dahod district’s Randhikpur village, where Bilkis Bano was gang-raped and her family members were slaughtered during the 2002 Gujarat riots, many Muslims have fled the village due to safety concerns as a result of the release of the 11 life-term prisoners.
Due to the fact that the convicts who were freed from prison are from a nearby village, police in Randhikpur have stepped up security, although people were not expected to leave.
The 11 convicts who had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Bilks Bano case were released on August 15 as part of the Gujarat government’s remission policy.
70 Muslim families, according to Randhikpur resident Shahrukh Sheikh, live in fear, while many others have left the city and are now staying with friends and family in other cities.
“We’re terrified. In anticipation of violence on the part of the prisoners after their release, a number of residents have left the village. We have pleaded with the collector to imprison the criminals and ensure the protection of the locals, said Sheikh, a daily wage earner.
Villagers expressed their fear in a memorandum they delivered to the Dahod district collector on Monday, claiming that many Randhikpur residents are leaving while giving up their regular jobs.
The villagers claimed that they were emigrating out of concern about their safety, particularly that of women. The letter stated that they would not return until the 11 prisoners were taken into custody.
The convicts, who are from a village close to Randhikpur, were not found there, according to the police, who also acknowledged that several people had departed.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police RB Devdha, “We have stationed police troops at predetermined spots after speaking to locals and intensified patrolling after the villagers voiced concern over their safety.
Some locals, according to him, have left their homes and moved in with relatives in neighbouring places. The DYSP stated that police are in contact with the residents of Randhikpur and attending to their worries.
Balram Meena, the superintendent of police in Dahod, claimed that although the 11 convicts are residents of the nearby Singvad village of Randhikpur, they are not in the neighborhood.
On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano was gang raped in Randhikpur village amid communal riots, and seven people from her family were murdered.
“The prisoners were let go on August 15. Today is August 23. We would have been informed if there had been any evacuation. Additionally, the recently freed prisoners themselves are not in the neighbourhood. They have left. We have not seen any reason for locals to be afraid or run away,” Meena added.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided to list a petition that contested the Gujarat government’s decision to release the 11 convicts.
On August 15, after the Gujarati government approved their release under its policy of remission, they left the Godhra sub-jail. They had spent more than 15 years behind bars.
The Supreme Court ordered that the CBI conduct the case’s investigation, and that a local court in Maharashtra conduct the trial.
On January 21, 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai sentenced the 11 to life in prison on charges of gang rape and the murder of seven Bilkis Bano family members. Later, both the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court upheld their conviction.
Bilkis Bano was gang-raped while escaping the rioting that broke out following the Godhra train burning on 2002, she was 21 years old and five months pregnant. Her three-year-old daughter was one of those who were murdered.
Source: PTI
