Roop Rekha Verma, a retired philosophy professor from Lucknow University, got a call at the Delhi airport asking if she would file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court challenging the remission of the convicts’ sentences in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case. She declined to disclose the identity of her friend.
Additionally, the prisoners had been found guilty of murder. Verma quickly consented and became a co-petitioner by sending her Aadhaar card via courier the following day.
“There were a number of social activists and journalists deeply concerned about the remission. A petition was being planned. They contacted me and I readily agreed, as I was also very disturbed with the remission of the sentence by the Gujarat government,” said professor Verma, 80, who has also been active in social work, running an organisation, Saajhi Duniya, on issues of gender and communal harmony.
Subhashini Ali of the CPI(M) had already made up her mind to file a petition at this point. She had met Bilkis at a relief camp in Gujarat two days after the gang rape and killings in 2002 while visiting the state as a member of an AIDWA team.
“When I heard that Bilkis asked whether this was the end of justice, it was like an electric shock. I thought what are we all doing? We were lucky that very good lawyers like Kapil Sibal, Aparna Bhat and others were helping us,” said Ali.
“The petition had already been drafted and I was contacted. I was already incensed with the remission. I was an NDTV journalist in Gujarat and had met Bilkis after the incident happened. I have also written a book called Anatomy Of Hate. I readily agreed to be the third petitioner,” Laul told news agency.
Ali said she found the remission of the sentence “horrifying”. “I don’t think such an act of brutality has been recorded even in communal riots. This stands out as an act of brutality – gang rapes, babies being smashed to death, people being killed, a daughter being raped in front of the mother. We met this woman in the relief camp two days after the incident when we went there as part of an AIDWA team. She was very thin and four months’ pregnant. This poor woman showed courage; her husband was also standing by her. And then the conviction happened eight years later after the case was transferred to Maharashtra.”
“After the conviction, we found that they were getting parole regularly. What stuck out was the completely shameless way in which a government was standing with the perpetrators of crime. A government should stand with the weak, who seek protection. Then this remission happened,” said Ali.
About what transpired when the petitioners filed a PIL in the apex court, Ali said, “It was being said that it was not admissible but the CJI said he was willing to admit it. Because of the enormity of the crime, I think.”
Later, Bilkis filed a petition on her own, and the Supreme Court granted it. The court ruled that the admissibility of the PIL filed by the activists was now merely a matter of academic inquiry that could be resolved in a different case.
“Another shock was the extent to which the government was prepared to go to protect these fellows. Not only did they go beyond the legal boundaries to offer these remissions beyond jurisdiction, but the entire state law machinery and top lawyers were brought to SC every day to browbeat everyone and get the case prolonged for as long as possible. A lot of other people also got impleaded. Then Bilkis came with her lawyer and said if so many people are willing to fight for me, I should also join the fight. It is good that the judgment has come. BJP leaders who defended this (the remission) on channels should be asked why they defended such criminals,” Ali said.
Verma said she had not met Bilkis Bano or her co-petitioner Revati Laul. “I did not know her (Bilkis). So, I did not know whether she was planning anything. In this situation, I wasn’t sure whether she or her family would move court,” she told The Indian Express. “Bilkis also went to court and it heard her petition. I am very happy. My confidence in the rule of law is restored. I wasn’t sure whether justice would come… Many judgments have disappointed us. So, this is a special day. A big salute to Bilkis and a big thanks to the judges.”
Following the filing of the PIL, Mahua Moitra, the leader of the Trinamool Congress and an expelled Lok Sabha MP, filed a separate case with the Supreme Court challenging the remission. The highest court was also approached by former IPS officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar to challenge the remission.
