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Former Supreme Court Judge Sujata Manohar, who was a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) when the body intervened in 2003 on behalf of Bilkis Bano, termed the government’s decision to release 11 convicts in the gangrape and murder case from the 2002 Gujarat riots a “dilution of rule of law”.
“Especially in a case like this, the decision to release the convicts cannot be made arbitrarily. When a court has convicted and sentenced them, releasing them arbitrarily dilutes the rule of law,” the former judge told indianexpress.com.
On August 15, 11 convicts walked out of prison after the Gujarat government panel remitted life sentences awarded to them. Bilkis Bano, pregnant at the time, was gangraped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was among 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Dahod during violence that broke out across Gujarat after the Sabarmati Express was attacked in Godhra and 59 passengers, mainly kar sevaks, were killed.
Significantly, in 2003, it was the NHRC’s crucial intervention that ensured legal assistance for Bano to approach the Supreme Court after the Gujarat police had closed the case.
The human rights body, under former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, had met her when he visited a relief camp in Godhra in March 2002. Justice Manohar was a member of the Commission then, that had appointed senior advocate and former Solicitor General Harish Salve to represent her before the Supreme Court.
Salve argued for a fresh probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and, subsequently, for a transfer of the trial from Gujarat to Mumbai. Bano’s case was the only Gujarat riots-related case that was investigated afresh by the CBI.
“It is very sad to see the case take this turn. We want women to be empowered but we do not ensure adequate safety for them. The remission does not send a proper message on the protection of women,” Justice Manohar said.
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