US Commission condemns release of Bilkis Bano rape convicts; 3 Congress MLAs write to Prez Droupadi Murmu

Ahmedabad: Even as the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has condemned it as “travesty of justice”, three Gujarat Congress MLAs have urged President Droupadi Murmu to revoke the order to release the 11 convicts sentenced to life for gangrape of Bilkis Bano and mass murder during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Congress MLAs from Ahmedabad Gyasuddin Shaikh of Dariyapur and Imran Khedawala of Jamalpur, and Javed Pirzada from Wankaner have called the release “extremely shocking”.

The USCIRF said in a statement that, “USCIRF strongly condemns the early and unjustified release. It is a travesty of justice.”

Significantly, the Commission asserted, “It’s part of a pattern of impunity in India for those engaged in violence against religious minorities.”

Meanwhile, the letter by the Congress MLAs to the President as posted on Gyasuddin Shaikh’s Twitter handle on Friday followed their decision to appeal to the President to intervene and direct the Union Home Ministry and Gujarat Government to immediately revoke the remission of penalty to the 11 convicts.

The letter asserted that the “the Gujarat BJP Government's decision to set free the convicts of such a heinous crime "has shown its apathy on the auspicious occasion of Independence Day.

They stated that, “It is all the more shocking that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of showing utmost respect to women, his home state’s BJP Government released those convicted for “gangraping a five-month pregnant woman and murdering seven of Bilkis Bano’s family members.”

The MLAs asserted that the release of such hardened criminals and their subsequent felicitations was an “inhuman gesture that sets a dangerous precedent”.

Published on: Saturday, August 20, 2022, 10:32 PM IST