Bilkis Bano has finally got justice, says Sharad Pawar-led NCP after SC quashes Gujarat government's remission order

Bilkis Bano has finally got justice, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party said after the Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case of her gangrape and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in that state. "Today, Bilkis Bano finally got justice. The remission decision exposes BJP's stand to talk about Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, blowing the trumpet of bringing Women's Reservation Bill on one hand and shielding the people who unleash atrocities on women on other hand," the NCP said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Holding the PIL challenging the remission as maintainable, an SC bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said the Gujarat government was not the appropriate government to pass the remission order.

Bilkis Bano was 21-years-old and five months pregnant when she was raped while fleeing the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train-burning incident. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed in the riots.


All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released on August 15, 2022.