The eleven convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape case on Monday walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government approved their release under its remission policy.
“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,” Panchmahals Collector Sujal Mayatra, who headed the panel told PTI.
On January 21, 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai, sentenced the eleven accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family during the Godhra riots. Later, their conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court.
The 11 convicts who have been set free are Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana.
These convicted men had served for more than 15 years in jail after which one Radheshyam Shah moved to Supreme Court with a petition for his premature release.
The Top court had directed the government of Gujarat to look into the issue of remission of his sentence following which the government formed a committee to look into the application.
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.
