CPI(M) welcomes SC decision in Bilkis Bano case

New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court judgment quashing the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, with party leader Brinda Karat calling it a 'hard slap' on the face of the state government.

The politburo of the Left party welcomed the court verdict 'nailing down the Gujarat government's illegal action' of granting remission to the 11 convicts who were sentenced to life for raping pregnant Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat 'communal carnage'.

"The court has categorically asked the convicts to surrender back to prison within two weeks," it pointed out.

The CPI(M) said the division bench of the apex court, going beyond the 'competence' of the Gujarat government to pass the remission order, has actually stated that the state government acted in 'complicity' with the convicts.

"The bench has also stated that a fraud has been played by the Gujarat government in presenting the facts in justifying the remission order. The scathing judgment has stated that if the convicts can 'circumvent the consequence of their conviction, peace and tranquillity in the society will be reduced to a chimaera'," it said.

The party said the remission did not take into account the brutality of the crime and its consequence on the society.

"The fact that the Gujarat government has furnished that the decision was also based on the concurrence of the central government, makes the central government equally complicit in this 'complicity with the convicts'. That the remission did not take into account the brutality of the crimes and its larger consequence on the society and the rule of law is obvious" it said.

"Governments are constitutional entities and if they act in violation of the jurisdiction and considerations of law, it will play havoc with our very existence as a democracy," the party said.

Karat, a member of the CPI(M) politburo, said the court verdict is a hard slap on the face of the Gujarat government.

"We welcome the Supreme Court judgment in the Bilkis Bano case, upholding the arguments made by Bilkis in her petition. Though it has taken one-and-a-half years, it is a very welcome step forward," Karat said in a video shared by the Left party on X.

"What is significant about the judgment is the finding of the court that the petitioner did not come to the court with clean hands, there were documents which were fraud documents, and the fact that the Gujarat government supported this ... the Gujarat government was behind the release means that the Supreme Court judgment today is a hard slap on the face of the Gujarat government," she said.

"Not only that, the Gujarat government's petition in the Supreme Court specifically mentioned that they went ahead with it after getting okay from the central Home Ministry, and who heads the central Home Ministry? Mr Amit Shah," Karat said.

"Therefore the double engine government today has been called out by the Supreme Court, and this is something to be welcomed. However, the fight for justice continues.... Unless they are sent back to jail where they belong, that struggle must continue," she said.  Karat also saluted Bilkis Bano for her courage.

"Also I salute Bilkis herself, her strength, her courage, her transformation from a victim to survivor, and from survivor to fighter, that is an example for all women in the country fighting for justice against sexual and communal crimes. I salute Bilkis and assure her of support in her struggle forward," she said.

In a post on X, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury welcomed the judgment, but added that the perpetrators remain unpunished.

"It appears that justice is being delivered to Bilkis Bano finally after two long decades. The brutality of gang rapes and mass murders cannot be brushed aside and the perpetrators remain unpunished," Yechury said.

Accusing the Gujarat government of abusing its power, the Supreme Court on Monday quashed the remission to the 11 men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 communal riots in the state and ordered that they be sent back to jail within two weeks.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released from prison on August 15, 2022.