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| Bilkis Bano case: 12 found guilty |
| In a significant judgement on the Gujarat riots of 2002, 12 people have been found guilty of rape in the Bilkis Bano case.
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| INDIA
, 18-January-2008
9:14:39 AM |
| In a significant judgement on the Gujarat riots of 2002, 12 people have been found guilty of rape in the Bilkis Bano case.
Additional Sessions Judge UD Salvi delivered the verdict on Friday.
Seven people, including five policemen and two doctors, have been acquitted. These seven were accused of destroying evidence.
It is a major conviction in one of the few Gujarat riot cases that were transferred out of the state.
Bilkis, who was pregnant at that time, was witness also to the murder of six other people while they were fleeing their village in March 2002.
Seventeen members of her family were attacked in the riots that followed the Godhra train carnage. Eight were killed and six went missing.
She is one of the faces of the Gujarat riots. In a rare interview earlier this year, Bilkis Bano told NDTV of her fight for justice.
''In the last five years, my suffering has been endless. I have not even been able to stay in one place. I am consumed with fear,'' said Bilkis Bano, Gujarat riot victim.
The case dates back to March 3, 2002, during the Gujarat riots, when a pregnant Bilkis was allegedly gangraped, beaten up and left for dead.
She says she was witness to the massacre of 14 family members. But the Gujarat government closed her case, gave bail to all the accused and Bilkis moved the Supreme Court.
''They killed my daughter by smashing her on a stone. I was carrying her. Then they caught me and took me away. I kept telling them, ''You are from my own village, save my girl, save my family.'' They did not listen. They raped me,'' said Bilkis Bano.
The case was transferred out of Gujarat to Maharashtra on the April 6, 2004, making it the second Gujarat riot case after Best Bakery to be tried in a special Mumbai court.
The trial was held 'in camera' not open to the media or the public. This is also one of the few cases in the riots, where the prosecution managed to get 17 of the 20 accused, including six policemen behind bars.
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