The convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter who was smashed with a rock to death, during the 2002 Gujarat riots chased her with a “blood thirsty approach” to hunt Muslims and kill them, Bano’s lawyer told the Supreme Court on Monday.
The apex court started hearing petitions challenging the remission order granted by the Gujarat government to 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, in August last year. Bano’s lawyer said the remission came amid strong disapproval to the move by a trial court in Mumbai that pronounced the convicts guilty, the investigating agency CBI and the Gujarat police.
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“The perpetrators who committed a crime of this nature, are they entitled to any leniency shown by the state?” advocate Shobha Gupta, representing Bano, told a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan.
“She kept pleading that she is like a sister to them as she knew all of them. They were from around the area...It was not a spur of the moment incident. The convicts were chasing Bilkis with a blood thirsty approach to hunt Muslims and kill them,” Gupta said. “They raised slogans — these are Muslims, kill them. The high court has taken note that the crime committed by them was rare, uncommon and driven by communal hatred.”
{{/usCountry}}“She kept pleading that she is like a sister to them as she knew all of them. They were from around the area...It was not a spur of the moment incident. The convicts were chasing Bilkis with a blood thirsty approach to hunt Muslims and kill them,” Gupta said. “They raised slogans — these are Muslims, kill them. The high court has taken note that the crime committed by them was rare, uncommon and driven by communal hatred.”
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Bilkis Bano was five-month pregnant when she was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Her seven family members, including her first child, were also murdered.
The advocate added that under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), before considering remission, the views of the trial court, investigating agency and local police where the accused resides are taken. In the present case, all three recommended that the accused do not deserve any leniency, Gupta told the bench, which will resume hearing on Tuesday.