Truly a New Year for me, can breathe again: Bilkis Bano on SC verdict

New Delhi: Bilkis Bano on Monday thanked the Supreme Court after it quashed the remission granted to 11 men convicted of raping her and murdering seven members of her family during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

“This is what justice feels like,” she said following the verdict. In a statement issued through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, Bano said "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.”.

"Journeys like this 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."

“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.”

"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. 6,000 people from all over, and 8,500 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," Bano said.

She said even as she absorbs 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."

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.

In its 251-page judgment, the Supreme Court said the Gujarat government had no jurisdiction to entertain the applications for remission of sentences and only the government of the state where the offenders were sentenced was competent to consider an application for remission and pass an order.

While quashing the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission, the apex court also said the state government's order was "stereotyped" and passed without application of mind. Accusing the Gujarat government of abusing its power, the Supreme Court also ordered that the 11 men be sent back to jail within two weeks.

Opposition hails verdict
Opposition parties on Monday hailed the Supreme Court verdict in the Bilkis Bano case as "restoration of justice" and accused the BJP government of aiding the premature release of the convicts, with the Congress demanding an apology from the ruling party.

Parties like the TMC, CPI-M, IUML, National Conference and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) alleged that the BJP government "misused" its powers to give remission to 11 men for political gains.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed the verdict quashing the remission granted to the convicts exposes the "misdeeds" of the Home Ministry and the Gujarat Government and shows how the BJP can deny justice to a woman only to win elections.

(With PTI inputs.)