Congress leaders during a press conference after the Bilkis Bano case verdict in New Delhi on January 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Opposition parties across the political spectrum on Monday hailed the Supreme Court order that quashed the Gujarat government’s remission of sentence and premature release of the 11 rapists in the Bilkis Bano case, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claiming that the verdict exposed the “misdeeds” of the Home Ministry and the Gujarat government.
The Congress demanded that the BJP should apologise to the women and daughters of the country after the Supreme Court verdict.
“’Save the daughter’ became ‘Save the culprit’! The decision of the Supreme Court in the Bilkis Bano case is the restoration of justice. It exposes the misdeeds of the Home Ministry of Modi Government and the Gujarat Government,” Mr. Kharge said in a post on social media platform X.
Senior party leader Rahul Gandhi also took to X to target the BJP, and claimed that the verdict had once again shown “who the protector of criminals is”.
“The tendency to ‘murder justice’ for electoral gains is dangerous for a democratic system. Today, the Supreme Court’s decision once again showed the country who gives ‘patronage to criminals’. Bilkis Bano’s tireless struggle symbolises the victory of justice against the arrogant BJP government,” Mr. Gandhi said.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee said the judgment was bold. “I am grateful to the SC for taking this strong and bold judgment. It proves that the rapists were moving freely and enjoying power,” Ms. Banarjee said at Sagar island in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
TMC leader Mahua Moitra, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Subhashini Ali, and independent journalist Revati Laul were among the petitioners who had moved the apex court against the premature release of the convicted rapists.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a post on X, welcomed the judgment. “It appears that justice is being delivered to Bilkis Bano finally after two long decades. The brutality of gang rapes and mass murders cannot be brushed aside and the perpetrators remain unpunished,” he said
Ms. Ali alleged that a new norm was being set, where those associated with the BJP were not punished for even the most heinous crimes. She said Bilkis Bano had fought a hard battle to get the rapists convicted. “But the Gujarat government supported the criminals. They got parole when they were in jail and then they were released. Why did the Gujarat government do this? Why did it have to support criminals?” Ms. Ali asked.
”SC’s comment that remission for convicts in Bilkis Bano case was ‘obtained by fraud and suppression of facts’ has exposed BJP’s hollow claims of women’s safety and empowerment,” Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D. Raja said.
Addressing a joint press conference with All India Mahila Congress chief Alka Lamba, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the court had shown the mirror to the BJP.
“This judgment, the content, the contours — it is a revolutionary judgment. Because it speaks the truth, it shows the mirror to arrogant power, to punch drunk power,” Mr. Singhvi said, noting that the Congress had earlier questioned the release of the convicts.
”After this decision of the Supreme Court, PM [Narendra] Modi and BJP leaders should apologise to crores of daughters of the country because the BJP stands exposed today,” Ms. Lamba said.
All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal said the entire BJP leadership owed an apology to Bilkis Bano, while party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said justice had ultimately prevailed.
“With this order, the veil over the anti-women policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been removed. After this, public confidence in the justice system will be further strengthened,” Ms. Vadra said on X.