Protests in India against the release of eleven men sentenced to life in prison for gang rape

Aug. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Dozens of women’s rights protesters have protested in India against the release of eleven men who were sentenced to life in prison in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang rape case amid religious clashes in Gujarat state. .

Protests have been registered in more than 15 districts of the state to demand justice from the Indian authorities in the face of the decision made by a panel established by the Government of Gujarat that approved on August 15 a request for remission of the sentences of the eleven men, who remained imprisoned in Godhra, according to the newspaper ‘The New Indian Express’.

Bilkis was gang raped as violence sparked by the burning of a train in Gujarat state filled with Hindu pilgrims, killing 59 people and sparking one of the country’s worst waves of unrest in decades.

The Sabarmati Express was attacked by a group of Muslims, after which clashes broke out that resulted in the death of more than 1,200 people, mostly Muslims. State authorities were criticized for not doing enough to stop the violence.

A commission of inquiry set up by the Gujarat government concluded in 2008 that the attack was the result of a “conspiracy” and exonerated the state’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, in connection with subsequent clashes between Muslims and Hindus.

However, a subsequent investigation by the Supreme Court established in 2010 that Modi took a “biased” and “discriminatory” stance by not visiting areas in Ahmedabad where fighting took place and where large numbers of Muslims were killed.

Bilkis’s rape occurred when the woman, who was pregnant, fled her village due to the riots, accompanied by 15 relatives. Upon her arrival in Chapparwad, about twenty people attacked them with sickles, swords and clubs. Bilkis, her mother and three other women were brutally raped and assaulted.

In January 2008, an Indian court convicted eleven men of rape, murder, unlawful assembly and other Indian Penal Code charges. The court acquitted seven people citing lack of evidence. One person died during the course of the trial, according to ‘The Indian Express’.