The Modi administration authorized the release of Bilkis Bano’s rapists

• India’s top court has ordered the release of 11 convicts convicted of gang-raping a Muslim lady and killing her family.
• The men were convicted in the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.
• A letter from India’s home ministry was posted online by a legal blog.

According to court records, the administration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi authorized the release in August of 11 men who had been found guilty and given life sentences for gang-raping a Muslim lady and killing members of her family in the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.

Legal blog The Leaflet posted the permission letter from India’s home ministry, which is run by close Modi ally Amit Shah, on social media.

Outrage had been raised by the prisoners’ August release and the right-wing activists’ subsequent celebration of them. However, it was unclear if the central government had authorized their release at the time.

In 2002, when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat state, Bilkis Bano, who is now in her forties, was viciously gang-raped when five months pregnant. Some of the greatest religious violence in the nation resulted in the deaths of about 2,000 individuals, most of them Muslims.

The Gujarat government claimed in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court that it decided to release the criminals because they had served 14 years in prison and had been well-behaved during that time.

Following numerous requests against the rapists’ release, the top court had requested that the state government reveal papers regarding the remission granted to the offenders.

According to court records cited by the New Delhi-based NDTV news station, the convicted men were given parole and furloughs for more than 1,000 days prior to their early release in August.

The Central Bureau of Investigation objected to the release of the prisoners, stating that there should be no leniency shown and that the crimes were “heinous, grave, and serious,” but the state government ultimately decided to free the prisoners, according to another document published by The Leaflet.

In the gang rape and murder case, 11 men received life sentences in prison in 2008. The violence also claimed the lives of fourteen other members of Bano’s family, including her three-year-old daughter, whose head was slammed to the ground by the assailants in Limkheda, Gujarat’s Dahod district.

In August, the same month that India celebrated 75 years of independence, the prisoners were freed.

While opposition politicians criticized the BJP for weakening women’s rights and harboring racism against Muslims, scores of protesters demonstrated against the release of the convicts in Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi, the head of the opposition Congress party, charged that Prime Minister Modi had aided rapists.

Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, “Talk of respect for women from the Red Fort ramparts but in reality backing for ‘rapists’.”

Women’s rights campaigner Kavita Krishnan told Al Jazeera that “Bilkis Bano’s rape and the murder of her family members occurred as part of an anti-Muslim riot on Modi’s watch as Gujarat chief minister in 2002.”

“By releasing the convicted rapists and killers early, Modi as prime minister is signaling to Hindu supporters in Gujarat on the verge of upcoming state elections his dedication to Hindu supremacy.

She claimed that the government’s assertions that it is rescuing Muslim women from patriarchal practices—which Modi’s party suggests are a particularity of Islam—are false.

At the time of the release, Bano claimed that her confidence in justice had been shattered by the Gujarat government’s decision to release her assailants, which had left her “numb” and “bereft of words.”

How could justice for a woman finish in such a way? She stated, “I trusted the highest courts in our nation, and no authorities approached me before making the decision.

“Please repair this damage. Give me back the freedom to live in peace and safety.

As Gujarat’s senior elected official at the time, the 2002 riots have been a source of contention for Modi due to claims that the government condoned and even encouraged the bloodshed.

The Supreme Court stated there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against Modi despite his repeated denials of any involvement.

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