New Delhi: One of the convicts in Bilkis Bano case, Chandamal Bhatt, was charged with outraging the modesty of a woman in 2020 when he was out on parole.
The Gujarat government gave this information to the Supreme Court in a 477-page affidavit put up before the apex court. The affidavit was in response to a bunch of petitions that challenged the release of 11 convicts in connection with the Bilkis Bano case.
The 11 convicts in the case were released on remission, and the state government said that they had completed their 14 years in jail, so they were freed.
The petitions, challenging the release of the convicts, were filed by former CPIM MP Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul, Roop Rekha Verma and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. The convicts were charged with murdering the kin of Bilkis Bano and repeatedly raping her during the Gujarat riots in 2002.
Nevertheless, according to the affidavit, the convicts had been out of jail for 1,000 days even before they were released on remission of life sentence. Bhatt was booked and charged with outraging the modesty of a woman. According to the affidavit, all the convicts had been granted furlough, parole and even temporary bail at different points during the period of their imprisonment.
In a letter on May 25 last year, the district magistrate of Dahod informed the government about Bhatt and gave his opinion about the suspension and remission of punishment of the convicts.
The letter said the case against Bhatt was registered in Randhikpur police station in Dahod district. A charge sheet was filed against Bhatt and the case is pending before the court.
According to the letter, after the incident occurred on June 19, 2020, Bhatt enjoyed 281 leaves out of the total 954 days’ parole and furlough leaves till may 25 this year. The collector, however, gave no objection to Bhatt’s release after considering the opinions of the police sub-inspector of Randhikpur and those of the deputy superintendent of police of Limkheda.
The affidavit also said that the superintendent of police, the CBI, the special crime branch, Mumbai and the special civil judge (CBI), the city civil court and the sessions court in Greater Bombay were opposed to the premature release of the convicts. They wrote about it in March last year.
The Gujarat government also said that the convicts had been released on the grounds of reports from different authorities about their conduct during their imprisonment. The Supreme Court granted time to the petitioners to file their response to the state government’s counter affidavit. The apex court will hear the case on November 29.
