WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2024
Srinivas Kamat
We talk of justice for women in India. This is the story of Bilkis who while pregnant in 2002 was raped by a group of men during the then riots in Gujarat. She had to go through many pains to register the case and get it to come to the courts. Fearing that she would not get justice in Gujarat courts, the case was transferred to Maharashtra. After due process of hearings, the rapists were given life sentences. Bilkis though not happy since she had wanted the death penalty for the attackers had to be content with the life sentences. She would have preferred incarceration for life as punishment for her attackers, but that was not to be. Bilkis went back to her normal life thinking the black memories of that fateful day in 2002 were over.
Flash forward on the case to 2022. Bilkis receives a jolt in her humdrum life with the news that all the rapists involved in her case have been released from jail. Unknown fears haunt her now. Will the rapists seek revenge against her for having put them in jail? Bilkis has heard that the State government has released them under some amnesty.
She has also been told that upon the rapists release from jail, they were felicitated with garlands at a public function. This makes Bilkis worry more.
Since 2002 it has been a BJP government in Gujarat and if the rapists have its support, then Bilkis has nowhere to hide.
Earlier she had never thought of hiding. But then now her adversary is powerful and is all around her. In every passing shadow that she notices around her, she sees a lurking attacker and fears for her life. Her peace of mind has been shattered for herself and for that of her family.
Bilkis has heard that the Central government had given a general amnesty in this year, the Amrut Mahotsav of our Azadi, to release prisoners from jail but this did not cover rapists to be specific. Then how was it that her rapists were released. She has again heard that they walked out of jail on the same day the Central government circular as mentioned above was received in Gujarat. Some people have been telling her that the Gujarat government had made some committee earlier and that it recommended that the rapists be released for good behaviour.
The Gujarat government had referred to the Central government this committee's report but then no one seems to know what the Central government had said on the matter, whether to release them or not. But in any case all this does not matter now since the rapists are roaming free in Gujarat. All this uncertainty and fear about what would happen to her, has aggravated Bilkis' apprehensions.
To resolve this Bilkis has decided to go to the Supreme Court to seek succour, re-assurance and relief that justice is still alive and kicking in India.
Will Bilkis be successful in her mission? Will India give her justice?
