New Delhi: A BJP leader who was part of the Gujarat government panel that unanimously decided to release the convicted rapists in Bilkis Bano case has stirred another row by calling the released convicts "Brahmins" with "good sanskaar".
The shocking statement was made by CK Raulji as he referred to the 11 men convicted for the rape of Bilkis Bano. All the 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 post-Godhra gang rape case walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
The decision was taken after one of the convicts approached the Supreme Court seeking remission. It was then passed on to the state government. "I don't know whether they committed any crime or not. But there has to be the intention of committing a crime. They were Brahmins and Brahmins are known to have good sanskaar. It might have been someone's ill intention to corner and punish them," Raulji is heard telling a reporter from Mojo Story.
Also read: I am still numb, please undo this harm: Bilkis Bano speaks up after rapists, murderers are set free
A video of the conversation has gone viral on Twitter attracting a lot of ire from the netizens. "BJP now terms rapists as ‘Men of Good Sanskar’. This is the lowest a party can ever stoop!" wrote Y Sathish Reddy, social media convenor of TRS, as he shared the video on Twitter.
The 11 accused -- Radheshyam shah, Jaswant Chaturbhai Nai, Keshubhai Vadaniya, Bakabhai Vadaniya, Rajibhai Soni, Rameshbhai Chauhan, Shaileshbhai Bhatt, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Govindbhai Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradip Modhiya -- walked out of jail on August 15.
A special CBI court in Mumbai on January 21, 2008, sentenced the eleven accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano's family. Their conviction was later upheld by the Bombay High Court. Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Seven members of her family were murdered, among them her three-year-old daughter whose head was bashed with rocks. Seven other relatives, who she says were also killed, were declared "missing".
