Shashi Tharoor is proud of BJP leader standing up for 'right thing and not right wing'

BJP leader Khushbu Sundar said it is an insult to humankind and womanhood if those involved in the brutality with Bilkis Bano are allowed to roam free.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday lauded BJP leader and his former party colleague Khushbu Sundar for speaking up for Bilkis Bano whose rapists walked free on Independence Day under a remission policy of the Gujarat government.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.(Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

Sundar said it is an insult to humankind and womanhood if those involved in the brutality with her are allowed to roam free.

Taking to Twitter, Sundar wrote, "A woman who is raped, assaulted, brutalised and her soul scarred for life must get justice. No man who has been involved in it should go free. If he does so, it's an insult to humankind and womanhood. #BilkisBano or any woman, needs support, beyond politics n ideologies. Period."

Tharoor said he was proud to see the BJP leader, who left the Congress ahead of the last Tamil Nadu Assembly election, standing up for the right thing, instead of the right wing. “Hear hear,@khushsundar! Proud to see you standing up for the right thing, rather than the right wing. (sic),” the Lok Sabha MP wrote.

Bilkis Bano was gangraped at the age of 21 years and five months pregnant and seven of her family members, including her three-year-old daughter, were murdered during the Gujarat communal violence in 2002. The 11 men, who walked free from the jail on August 15 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about women empowerment during his I-day speech, were convicted of gangrape and murder in 2008.

The Supreme Court has issued a notice on the Gujarat government on a plea challenging the remission of the 11 convicts. A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath sought a response from the Gujarat government and posted the matter for hearing after two weeks. It also asked the petitioners to make the 11 convicts parties in the case.

In its order, the The apex court in its order stated, "Issue notice. File your reply. We direct the 11 convicts to be impleaded in the case."