In a historic judgement a special CBI court in Mumbai pronounced 11 of the 12 accused life imprisonment, who were earlier found guilty in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case. The 12th man, a police person has been sentenced to three years as he has already spent four years in jail.
On the basis of photo evidence, photographs and personal testimony of Bilkis and her nephew in front of whom 14 of their family members were killed brutally, the prosecution pressed for the highest punishment death but the court only reached to life-term.
Giving respite the court announced a three year sentence to the police person involved for not filing a FIR and trying to covering up the case. He had already spent four years in prison.
Six year long battle Bilkis case is probably the worst post-Godhra violence incident came into notice. Bilkis Bano a Muslim woman whose family members along with her three and half year old daughter were brutally killed before her eyes and that is not over; the four-month pregnant woman was raped by those demons.
Thousands of people were killed in the 2002 communal riot and Indian justice system took six long years to deliver the right justice. Considering a fare trial the case was transferred to the central bureau of investigation and later to Mumbai in 2004 following Supreme Court’s direction.
The apex court also criticised the Gujarat government as it had not shown much effort to provide justice to the common man.
Verdict to renew faith
The verdict that not only sentenced most of the accused but can be seen as a benchmark like some of the earlier judgement in the year 2007 and in the end, craft a positive impression among common people that justice do come in the end.
No doubt the criminal justice system in India is irritatingly slow in delivery but such judgements renew faith among common men. Here the Supreme Court and the CBI did their best to limit political interference and police manipulation that resulted a free trail and justice to grieving people.
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