Amidst the legal proceedings surrounding the case of Bilkis Bano, one of the convicts has been granted parole due to the demise of his father-in-law. The ruling has raised questions about selective implementation of laws in high-profile cases. Just two weeks after 11 men were convicted of rape against Bilkis Bano, the granting of parole signals indifference in the judicial proceedings.
It was during the 2002 Gujarat riots that Bano was raped by 11 men while 14 members of her family were killed, leaving her devastated. Pradip Modhiya, one of the convicts, was released on Wednesday on a five-day parole granted by the Gujarat High Court. The Indian Express reported that Modhiya was allowed to visit his village, Randhikpur in Dahod district, considering the demise.
Bilkis, a five-month-pregnant resident of Radhikpur village in Dahod district, Gujarat, escaped her village with her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Saleha, and 15 other family members on February 28, 2002, after unrest erupted following the Sabarmati Express fire in Godhra. They chose to flee when the accused caused chaos in her hometown on Bakr-Id day, burning down houses and plundering Muslims’ goods.
On March 3, 2002, five months pregnant Bilkis was raped while witnessing the death of her family members. The next day, Bilkis was taken to Limkheda police station, an FIR was registered, and she identified 12 of them who were residents of Randhikpur. The rape incident was not reported, neither were the names of the accused. Seven bodies of her family members were found in the jungle of Kesharpur on March 5, 2002.
Legal Journey
POLICE RESPONSE
November 6, 2002: Seven months after the horrific incident, Report ‘A’ was submitted by the police. It stated that the case was true but undetected, and the culprits were not found. Despite requests for closure of the case being made, the court did not accept the closure. The police were directed for further investigation.
February 2003: Once again, the request to close the case by Limkheda Police was submitted. Report ‘A’ requesting closure of the case was accepted by the court.
CASE HANDED OVER TO CBI
April 2003: Bilkis approached the Supreme Court requesting the Magistrate’s order to put aside the ‘A’ summary. She further requested a CBI investigation.
December 6, 2003: Seven months later, her plea was accepted, and the Supreme Court transferred the case to the CBI.
January 1, 2004: CBI DSP KN Sinha took charge of the investigation from Gujarat Police.
February 1-2, 2004: Bodies were unearthed for the CBI probe – 109 bones found without skulls. The Bombay HC later observed that “it appears that at some point the heads were cut off.
April 19, 2004: CBI filed a charge sheet before CJM Ahmedabad accusing 20 individuals, including six police officers. Doctors who performed the post-mortem on the seven bodies on March 5, 2002, were also accused.
CASE MOVED TO MUMBAI
August 2004: After no progress from the Gujarat Court, the SC moved the trial of the case to Mumbai and directed the central government to appoint a special public prosecutor.
January 21, 2008: Verdict was passed by the Special Judge in Greater Mumbai. Eleven were convicted to life imprisonment for murder and rape, while seven were acquitted. Two were abated since they had died.
2009-2011: Appeals were filed by both the accused and the CBI. The CBI sought an enhancement of sentence for Jaswantbhai Chaturbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, and Shailesh Chimanlal Bhatt to death sentence.
The Bombay HC began hearing appeals in 2016.
May 2017: The Bombay High Court upheld the trial court’s life imprisonment conviction of the 11 and refused to increase the punishment. It also set aside the acquittal of seven — five police officers and two doctors — and convicted them under Sections 201 and 218 of the IPC, sentencing them to the period of imprisonment served along with a fine.
SUPREME COURT AND APPEALS
July 2017: Appeal was made by two doctors and four policemen out of five against the Bombay HC conviction, but the SC dismissed the appeal.
April 23, 2019: In a 2017 case for compensation, the Supreme Court ordered the state government to give Bano a job and government housing at a location of her choice, as well as to pay her Rs 50 lakh in compensation. In April 2019, she voted for the first time in 17 years in Dahod.
April 23, 2019: Acting on Bilkis’s prayers in the 2003 transfer petition, in which she sought departmental action against the accused police officers, the state government claimed to have issued orders relating to three of the convicted police officials, who had since retired, imposing a penalty of a hundred percent reduction in the pension to which they were entitled after retirement. The Gujarat government also notified the court that it had proposed a two-stage demotion for convicted IPS officer RS Bhagora.
May 30, 2019: Bhagora was fired by the Union Home Ministry one day before his retirement, hence he was not eligible for government retirement benefits.
May 2022: Convict Radheshyam Shah has filed an appeal against the Gujarat High Court’s July 17, 2019, order, which ruled that Maharashtra would be the “appropriate government” to decide on his plea for remission on the grounds that he had completed 15 years and four months of his life sentence, which was awarded in 2008 by a CBI court in Mumbai.
May 13, 2022: A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath requested the Gujarat government to evaluate Shah’s appeal for premature release “within a period of two months,” in accordance with the policy that was in effect in the state on the day of his conviction.
August 15, 2022: As per Gujarat’s remission policy, 11 convicts are released from Godhra sub-jail.
August 25, 2022: The request for premature release by Convict Radheshyam Shah was denied by the Supreme Court. November 30, 2022: Bilkis Bano challenged Gujarat’s discharge decision where 11 were released from the Godhra Sub-Jail
March 27, 2023: SC issued notice on Bilkis Bano’s plea against the discharge of the 11 accused.
August 7, 2023: SC began the final hearing on petitions challenging the discharge of the 11 accused.
January 8, 2024: SC rejects the discharge of 11 convicts, citing “stereotyped” orders, and directs convicts to surrender within two weeks.
Today, February 9, one accused freed on parole.
