Bilkis Bano: HC sets aside acquittal of

Mumbai, May 4
Setting aside the acquittal of seven persons, including five policemen and two doctors, the Bombay High Court today upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of 12 persons in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. It, however, dismissed a CBI appeal seeking death penalty for three of the convicts on the grounds that they were the main perpetrators of the crime.
Bilkis Bano said, “My rights, as a human being, as a citizen, woman, and mother were violated in the most brutal manner, but I had trust in the democratic institutions of our country. Now, my family and I feel we can begin to lead our lives again, free of fear.”
A Division Bench of Justices K Tahilramani and Mridula Bhatkar, in a 430-page judgement, said while the probe conducted by the Gujarat Police was “flawed with a dishonest investigation”, the evidence and statements given by Bilkis Bano were “completely trustworthy”. Bilkis was gangraped in March 2002 at a time when she was pregnant. Seven of her family members were killed in Gujarat’s post-Godhra riots.
“The appeal against conviction filed by the 11 convicts (one of them is dead) is dismissed. The conviction and sentence is upheld. The appeal filed by the prosecution against the acquittal of seven persons (in the case) is allowed. The acquittal is set aside,” the Bench announced.
These seven persons — five policemen and two doctors — have been convicted for not performing their duty (Section 218) and for tampering with evidence (Section 201). Each of them were told to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 within eight weeks.
“We are convinced that all the accused persons in a mob on account of the Godhra incident were moving about in search of Muslims. This is a case where the police wanted to help the accused by suppressing their names. The police were not passive towards investigation, but were very active in destroying the case of the prosecutrix (Bilkis),” the court said.