The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Hope SC gives death to convicts in my case: Bilkis
A 500-METRE or so walk on a dusty, uneven road in Devgadh Baria’s Rahimabad relief colony leads to about 75 clustered oneroom tenements. These are homes to 2002 riot-affected families from Randhikpur, a village 32 km away that had made national headlines that year when a pregnant Bilkis Bano was gangraped and 14 of her family members were killed by a mob in the post-godhra riots.
A day after the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction of the accused in her case, and soon after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case, upholding death sentence for the four accused, Bilkis on Friday afternoon showed a sense of jubilation. “I am very happy to hear that Supreme Court has upheld death sentence of the Delhi gangrape accused,” She said. “I have complete faith in the judiciary and I am hopeful the Supreme Court will also give death sentence to the accused in my case ....
“No woman should have to go through this ordeal (of rape).”
Her husband, Yakub Rasool, said, “While we are very happy that the Bombay High Court has upheld conviction of the accused, we will appeal in Supreme Court to seek death penalty. We will soon meet our lawyer and decide about the appeal.”
Dressed in a royal blue embroidered dress and a black hijab covering her face, with husband Yakub by her side, Bilkis, seated in another one-room tenement now reserved for visitors streaming in following the HC verdict, said, “In the last 15 years, all my heart’s desires have died. I have lost more than what I will ever receive in life.”
Yakub said their only hope is that they will be able to live a “stable life” soon. “We are tired of running around and changing our address due to security reasons. Every time the accused come out on parole — at least once a year — we ensure that we are untraceable. They are supported by power,” he alleged.
After the initial years of making their identity public during the trial, Bilkis and Yakub have decided to now cover their faces. It was a conscious decision, Yakub said. “When the case began, people initially questioned whether Bilkis was really alive, or whether we had brought in some impostor to pose as her. So we had to reveal her identity. Now, times have changed; we do not want to be in limelight. Every time we shift to a new place hoping to start life afresh, some development occurs and we are hounded,” he said.
Recalling the days before March 3, 2002, Bilkis said the accused were “just like family friends”. All of Randhikpur village lived in harmony, she said. “My brother and the accused used to play cricket together. We used to sell them milk and called them chacha (uncle) and bhai (brother)” she said. “It is traumatic to relive the experience over and over again. Which is why we are trying to protect our children from this.”
Today, the couple has only one goal apart from seeking “complete justice” for Bilkis. She said, “We want to secure the future of our children. My oldest daughter (Hazra, 14) is in Class X. I often talk to her about her future and she is keen on becoming a lawyer. I want her to pursue law so that she can stand up against injustice — fight her own battles and reach out to those who need help.”