NEW DELHI: In an open letter to the Chief Justice of India, a group of eminent academics, historians and rights activists have urged the Supreme Court for an immediate hearing on the appeal of Bilkis Bano against the early release of 11 convicts, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, as “delaying tactics and
procedural subterfuge are being deployed”.
Expressing deep distress at the delay, the signatories of the letter said, “If the Supreme Court is not allowed to hear such a matter, where should an aggrieved woman in this country go?”
In 2008, 11 men were sentenced to life for gang-raping 21-year-old pregnant Bilkis Bano and murdering 14 people during the 2002 Gujarat communal riots. The state government released the convicts under the state’s remission policy in August last year.