Bilkis Bano case: 11 convicts surrender at Godhra sub-jail

The 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case surrendered at Godhra sub-jail in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district on Sunday night, PTI reported.

This was in line with the January 8 Supreme Court order that had quashed the remission of sentence granted to the convicts. The court had ordered them to surrender before jail authorities within two weeks.

On January 19, the court rejected pleas of the convicts that sought more time to surrender. They had cited ill-health of ageing parents, a wedding in the family and crop harvest as some of the reasons to delay their surrender.

They were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for gangraping Bilkis Bano and murdering 14 members of her family during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. One of the men had snatched Bano’s daughter from her arms and smashed her head on a rock. At the time, 19-year-old Bano was pregnant.

The 11 convicts are: Radheshyam Shah, Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Kesar Vohania, Baka Vohania, Raju Soni, Ramesh Chandana, Shailesh Bhatt, Bipin Joshi, Pradip Modhiya and Mitesh Bhatt.

The convicted rapists who walked out to garlands and sweets head back to prison in the #BilkisBano gang rape and murder case as the Supreme Court marches them back into jail. Breaking now @themojostory . Congratulations to her lawyer...

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