Eleven convicted of gang-rape go free

ELEVEN Hindu men jailed for life for the gang-rape of a pregnant Muslim woman during Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 have been freed on remission, officials said on Tuesday (16), drawing condemnation from the victim’s husband, lawyers and politicians.

The men were convicted in early 2008 and released from jail in Panchmahals in the western state of Gujarat on Monday (15), when India celebrated 75 years since the end of British rule.

The Gujarat violence, one of India’s worst religious riots, led to the deaths of more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. Gujarat was then led by current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as chief minister, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party still rules it.

Panchmahals’ top bureaucrat told Reuters that the district jail advisory committee had recommended the release after considering the time the 11 had spent in jail and their good behaviour.