Centre, Gujarat govt should apologise to Bilkis Bano, demands Owaisi

HYDERABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday demanded that the BJP governments at the Centre and in Gujarat apologise to Bilkis Bano in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment quashing the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.

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

The Gujarat government's remission order was without application of mind, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said and asked whether "heinous crimes against women permit remission" whatever faith she may follow or creed she may belong to.

Reacting to the ruling, the Hyderabad MP said "I welcome this judgement and I hope it acts as a precedent against all the rapists in the future."

Speaking to reporters here, Owaisi said this incident happened when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.

"The environment was so communally poisonous in Gujarat at that time that the trial in the case was shifted to Maharashtra," he said.

Two BJP MLAs endorsed the release of the convicts. One of the BJP MLA called these rapists as 'Sanskari', the AIMIM chief claimed.

"So the BJP government in Gujarat and the BJP government at the Centre both have helped in releasing these convicts in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members and that is why I demand that the BJP government in Gujarat and the BJP government in Centre led by PM Narendra Modi they should speak up and apologise to Bilkis Bano. This is the minimum that can be done by the BJP," Owaisi demanded.

The rapists should understand that they will not be set free in view of the political ideology they subscribe to, Owaisi said.

When Narendra Modi talks about 'Nari Shakti' it is just a hollow claim, he alleged and said, "It has no relevance on the ground."

All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15, 2022. Holding the PIL challenging the remission as maintainable, the bench said the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to pass the remission order.