India’s top court overturns release of men jailed for Bilkis Bano assault

India’s Supreme Court yesterday overturned the release from jail of 11 men convicted of sexual assault and murder, following a plea by a female victim who challenged the decision.

Muslim woman Bilkis Bano, was assaulted by the men during the 2002 Gujarat riots, in western India.

She was attacked and 14 of her family members killed by a Hindu mob during one of the deadliest episodes of religious violence in the country since its independence.

All 11 men were sentenced to life in prison six years later.

A two-judge bench ordered the offenders to appear before authorities within two weeks after deeming their release unlawful.

The Gujarat government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, released the men on India’s 75th Independence Day in 2022, after one had pleaded to be freed.

Their release and public support from the ruling party and Hindu groups sparked nationwide demands that they be sent back to jail.

But the government defended the move, saying the release was lawful, leading to Ms Bano approaching the senior court. The bench yesterday said the Gujarat government had no power to grant the release.

“The exercise of power by the state of Gujarat is an instance of usurpation of power and abuse of power,” judge B V Nagarathna said.

“This is a classic case where the order of this court was used to violate the rule of law by granting remission. On that ground also the remission orders deserve to be quashed.”

Ms Bano told the Supreme Court she had been left “shellshocked and completely numb” by the decision and “the en masse premature release of the convicts … has shaken the conscience of society”.

The men were sentenced by a court in Mumbai in neighbouring Maharashtra state after being convicted of mass murder and violent assault. In May 2017, the Bombay High Court upheld the trial court’s order.

The Supreme Court upheld the convictions, awarding Ms Bano 5 million rupees ($60,000) in compensation in 2019.

One of the offenders, Radheshyam Shah, asked the court for remission, saying he had served more than 15 years.

The court asked the state government to decide on the application and their release was granted, based on their “age, nature of the crime and behaviour in prison”.

The decision sparked widespread anger and dozens of women in New Delhi protested.

Ms Bano was 21 and pregnant when the men assaulted her and several female family members. They killed 14 family members when they tried to flee the Hindu mob.

While the attackers had presumed Ms Bano dead, she and two others survived. Seven bodies were never found.

The dead included Ms Bano’s mother, pregnant sister-in-law, a day-old niece and her toddler daughter Saleha.

Ms Bano was 21 and pregnant when the men assaulted her and several of her family members, killing 14 of them