Special judge U.D. Salvi of the sessions court here on Monday sentenced 11 persons to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2000 on each count in the Bilkis Bano case.
Bilkis, then five months pregnant, and her family were set upon by two jeeploads of Hindu fundamentalist(RSS, BJP, VHP, etc) men from Randhikpur village in Dahod district during the Gujarat riots on March 3, 2002. Four women and four children were killed and six went missing. She was stripped and gang-raped.
Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Bhagwan Das Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana were held guilty of murder, gang rape and raping a pregnant woman. They were also sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment for gang rape and raping a pregnant woman. The sentences would run concurrently.
Head constable Somabhai Gori of the Limkheda police station was sentenced to three-year imprisonment for framing false records and refusing to lodge Bilkis Bano’s first complaint.
The court observed that during riots many had secret agendas and they were not necessarily crusaders for their religion. Some looted, some plundered, some satisfied their lust and some joined a mob in killing.
The evidence during the trial also pointed out that some Hindus did shelter affected women.
Bilkis Bano also witnessed the killing of 14 member of her family by Hindu fundamentalists. “I stand vindicated. This judgment does not mean the end of hatred. But it does mean some where justice can prevail. This judgment is a victory not only for me but for all innocent Muslim who where massacred and women whose bodies where violated only because, like me, they were Muslims ” she said.
She lived in fear for the past 6 years, shuttling from one place to another with her children to protect them from the “hatred that still exist in the heart of the people.” “I pray they the people of Gujarat will some day be able to live without the stigma of that violence and hatred, and will root it out from the state that still remain my home.”