By IANS
Ahmedabad : The People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) Monday termed the life sentences awarded to the 11 accused in the Bilkis Bano case as a victory for the “Indian judiciary”.
Gautam Thaker, general secretary of the organisation, told IANS that the conviction and the punishment in the case is not a victory for any “person, caste or creed” but a victory of the judiciary.
Although delayed, justice has not been denied, he said. “This is the biggest certificate for Indian judiciary,” he commented on the sentences pronounced in a special court in Mumbai.
During communal clashes in March 2002, Bilkis Bano witnessed 14 members of her family being massacred by a violent mob, when they were trying to escape from their riot-struck village Randhikpur, 250 km from Ahmedabad.
Six months pregnant at the time, Bilkis Bano survived the slaughter, but not before being subjected to gang rape by a savage mob.
The trial in this case had begun in Ahmedabad. However, after Bilkis Bano expressed fears that witnesses could be harmed and the evidence tampered with, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai in August 2004.
The Mumbai court Friday had convicted 13 people, including a police officer, but the remaining seven accused, including five police officials and two doctors, were acquitted for want of evidence.