NEW DELHI: According to local media, India’s top court overturned the life sentence remission granted to 11 Hindu men who were convicted of raping a pregnant Muslim woman in a group and killing her relatives during 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat state.
In addition, the court ordered the men to turn themselves in to prison guards within a two-week period.
The victim, Bilkis Bano, was three months pregnant when she was the victim of gang rape. During the state-wide riots that killed over a thousand people, the majority of whom were Muslims, seven of her relatives were also slaughtered.
Gujarat is currently ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who served as the state’s chief minister during the time.
The men were found guilty in early 2008; but, in August 2022, the Gujarat government authorized their release after the prison recommended it based on their good behavior and the time they had served.
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Politicians, attorneys, and the victim’s spouse all denounced their release. According to the local media, the victim herself filed one of the multiple challenges to the remission before the Supreme Court.
The court ruled on Monday that Gujarat lacked the jurisdiction to lower the punishment given because the case trial was transferred to Mumbai, the nation’s financial center.
“Supreme Court rules that the State of Gujarat was ineligible to grant the convicts’ remission orders,” stated Indian news service ANI, a portion of which Reuters owns.
The 11 men and the Gujarati government did not respond to the verdict right away.
