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

Godhra: All 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case surrendered late Sunday night at Godhra sub jail in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district in keeping with the deadline imposed by the Supreme Court.

“All 11 convicts have surrendered before jail authorities late Sunday night,” said local Crime Branch inspector NL Desai.

The top court had on January 8 annulled the remission the Gujarat government granted to the 11 convicts in the high-profile case while slamming the State for being ‘complicit’ with an accused and abusing its discretion. It ordered the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, to go back to jail within two weeks.

The apex court had a couple of days ago rejected pleas of the convicts for grant of more time to surrender and had asked them to do so by Sunday.

The 11 convicts are Bakabhai Vohania, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Govind Nai, Jaswant Nai, Mitesh Bhatt, Pradeep Mordhiya, Radheshyam Shah, Rajubhai Soni, Ramesh Chandana and Shailesh Bhatt.

Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped while trying to escape the horror of the communal riots that broke out after the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members killed.