A man pleading with folded hand and helpless eyes was the picture of Godhra carnage which shook many while burqua clad woman with eyes pinned at the hollowness of her life, Bilkis Bano become the reminder of woman who survived the barbaric crime of gang rape during post Godhra riots.
After six long and exasperating years justice has come to shove her to her consciousness that she is alive after she was gang raped and witnessing her family member and four year old daughter being murdered on an unfateful of March 2002.
Twelve coward and brutal person who executed the crime were convicted of gang rape and massacre of other of her family members during Godhra riots while seven of the 19 were acquitted including five policemen accused of protecting the guilty party and two doctor who fabricated post mortem report.
The quantum of sentence is likely to be announced by Additional Sessions Judge U.D. Salvi on Monday. They may face life sentence to death.
After the concerted effort from Bilkis Bano and National Human Right Commission the trial was shifted to Mumbai court in 2004 after the Supreme Court directives. Also the case was reinvestigated by Central Bureau of Investigation. Earlier the local court in Mumbai closed the case in the want of evidence.
Bilkis family members were chased by mob on March 3, 2002, the day when she lost her child and many family members. The 5 month pregnant Bilkis was gang raped and was thrown near the dead bodies of her family member.
After few days Bilkis filed an FIR but the policeman fabricated the details to shield the accused.
R.B Shah, CBI counsel and Public Prosecutor said, “This was the person who lodged the first FIR. Since Bilkis is an illiterate woman, he took advantage and fudged the FIR, where he put in false points and deliberately omitted crucial points.”
He informed that because of this FIR the local court closed the case for the lack of evidence. And those who were free begin assaulting her family.
Praising the grit of the Bano he said, “But they could not stop her. She is a village woman of extraordinary courage,”
The 12 accused who were the member of VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal and were convicted under Section 120b (criminal conspiracy), Section 302 (murder) and Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code.
Apprehensions on Court proceedings
Godhra inflicted a deep gash in people’s mind with communal tint it raised an important question of the number of such riots we need to feel the pain of losing some one close to heart, to know the life after gang rape and the pain of waiting not only for the unending trial but also of their resilience and tolerance.
The riot also highlighted a major loop hole in our Judicial system, for the apprehension it created in the mind of victims and Supreme Court that the trial will not be fair in Gujarat where the incident took place.
Consequently several of cases were shifted which was a sure indication of interference by the powerful and influential one who perpetrate the crime.
It is painful to see the slayers scot- free and the turmoil the victim passes through after running from one place to other for justice.
But it is also true that when one court is apprehensive about the other; there are other courts where trust can be entrusted. For every cloud there is a silver lining but lets hope that the case may not get entrapped in the vicious cycle of judgement.
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