Hundreds of people have taken to the streets across India to protest the release of 11 men who were sentenced to life for gang-raping a Muslim woman, Bilkis Bano, during the 2002 communal riots.
The protests come as a group of 134 former civil servants on Saturday urged the Supreme Court to rectify the Gujarat government’s “horrendously wrong decision” of letting 11 convicted rapists go free.
“The story of Bilkis Bano is, as you know, a story of immense courage and persistence. It is a remarkable story of courage that this battered and bruised young woman, hiding from her tormentors, managed to seek justice from the courts," the letter signed by the former bureaucrats said.
“We urge you to rescind the order of remission passed by the Gujarat government and send the 11 persons convicted of gang rape and murder back to jail to serve out their life sentence,” the letter said.
The convicted rapists were released in the state of Gujarat on suspended sentences on August 15, when the country celebrated 75 years of independence. The men were convicted in 2008 of rape, murder and unlawful assembly. The victim, Bilkis Bano, who survived the attack, said that the Gujarat government's decision left her numb, as she lost her faith in justice.
At the time of the assault in 2002, the 19-year-old woman was pregnant. She was gang-raped amid communal violence in Gujarat, which is said to have been triggered by the burning of a train in Godhra, which led to the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims. Over 1,000 people were killed and thousands injured in the riots.
The rapists were freed under the 1992 remission policy which allowed for early release of convicts serving a life-term if a 14-year-long sentence had been completed. The policy has been scrapped, but it was in place when the men were convicted. An updated version of the policy was adopted in 2014 and prohibits remission release for those convicted of certain crimes, including rape and murder.