The story so far: As India celebrated the 75th anniversary of Independence on Monday, 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang rape of Bilkis Yakub Rasool and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots were released from jail in Godhra. As the 11 convicts, who walked out of the prison after 15 years, were welcomed with sweets and garlands, the Gujarat government said it relied on its old remission policy of 1992 to approve their applications for remission of the sentence and not the current policy of 2014.
While the release of the 11 convicted men caused widespread controversy, it brought back traumatic memories for Bilkis Bano and her family. In a statement to the media, released by her advocate on August 17, Bilkis asked “…how can justice for any woman end like this? I trusted the highest courts in our land. I trusted the system, and I was learning slowly to live with my trauma. She urged the Gujarat government to “undo the harm”.
