Bilkis Bano, the gangrape victim of 2002 Gujarat genocide has thanked the Indian Supreme Court saying that she could not breathe again after the top court sent 11 Hindutva terrorists back to jail. Gujarat’s BJP government had ordered the release of these terrorists since they supported the ideologies of the Hindutva outfit.
Bilkis, who’s been fighting her battle since 2002, issued a moving statement saying that Monday’s judgment had lifted ‘a stone the size of a mountain’ from her chest.
“Today is truly the New Year for me. I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again. This is what justice feels like. I thank the honourable Supreme Court of India for giving me, my children and women everywhere, this vindication and hope in the promise of equal justice for all,” Bano said.
These 11 Hindutva terrorists had brutally killed Bilkis Bano’s family members before gangraping her in 2002 when more than 4,000 Muslims were massacred in a genocide carried out at the behest of the BJP government headed by Narendra Modui, then chief minister of Gujarat.
Though, these men were meant spent life in jail for their heinous crime, the BJP government of Gujarat in 2002 decided to release them. They were later seen with BJP leaders. One BJP MLA had termed these terrorists ‘Brahmins’ with ‘good sanskar (moral values)’ since they murdered innocent people and raped a woman.
BJP leaders had distributed sweets and garlanded the 11 terrorists on their release in 2022.
Bano had approached the Supreme Court against the BJP government’s decision to release the 11 terrorists. On Monday, the two-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyanb lashed out at the BJP government of Gujarat saying that it was ‘not competent’ to pass the remission order in the case since the men had been tried and convicted in a court in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.
The court said that all 11 terrorists must return to jail within two weeks.
Bano said in her statement, “I have said before, and I say again today, journeys like mine can never be made alone. I have had my husband and my children by my side. I have had my friends who have given me so much love at a time of such hate, and held my hand at each difficult turn. I have had an extraordinary lawyer, Advocate Shobha Gupta, who has walked with me unwaveringly for over 20 long years, and who never allowed me to lose hope in the idea of justice.”
She added, “A year and half ago, on August 15, 2022, when those who had destroyed my family and terrorised my very existence, were given an early release, I simply collapsed. I felt I had exhausted my reservoir of courage. Until a million solidarities came my way. Thousands of ordinary people and women of India came forward. They stood with me, spoke for me, and filed PIL petitions in the Supreme Court.
“6000 people from all over, and 8500 people from Mumbai wrote appeals; 10,000 people wrote an Open Letter, as did 40,000 people from 29 districts of Karnataka. To each of these people, my gratitude for your precious solidarity and strength. You gave me the will to struggle, to rescue the idea of justice not just for me, but for every woman in India. I thank you.”
The riot victim of 2002 concluded, “Even as I absorb the full meaning of this verdict for my own life, and for my children’s lives, the dua that emerges from my heart today is simple – the rule of law, above all else and equality before law, for all.”