Bilkis Bano speaks: Feel like I can breathe again, this is what justice feels like

“I have wept tears of relief. I smiled for the first time in over a year-and-a-half. I have hugged my children… I thank the honourable Supreme Court of India for giving me, my children and women everywhere this vindication and hope in the promise of equal justice for all,” she said.

She also thanked those who had stood in her support: “I have said before, and I say again today, journeys like mine can never be made alone. I have had my husband and my children by my side. I have had my friends who have given me so much love at a time of such hate, and held my hand at each difficult turn. I have had an extraordinary lawyer, advocate Shobha Gupta, who has walked with me unwaveringly for over 20 long years, and who never allowed me to lose hope in the idea of justice.”

Reliving the moments of despair following the remission, she said, “A year-and-a-half ago, on August 15, 2022, when those who had destroyed my family and terrorised my very existence were given an early release, I simply collapsed. I felt I had exhausted my reservoir of courage. Until a million solidarities came my way. Thousands of ordinary people and women of India came forward. They stood with me, spoke for me, and filed PIL petitions in the Supreme Court. 8,500 people from Mumbai and 6,000 from the rest of the country wrote appeals; 10,000 people wrote an open letter, as did 40,000 people from 29 districts of Karnataka. To each of these people, my gratitude for your precious solidarity and strength. You gave me the will to struggle, to rescue the idea of justice not just for me, but for every woman in India. I thank you. Even as I absorb the full meaning of this verdict for my own life, and for my children’s lives, the dua (prayer) that emerges from my heart today is simple — the rule of law, above all else, and equality before law, for all.”

The convicts were felicitated with sweets on their release in August 2022. (File Photo)

Yaqub Rasool, her husband, told The Indian Express that the family was “happy and thankful” that the SC delivered justice. “The SC order has reinstated our faith in the judiciary of the country and it gives us consolation that justice is alive… But, we know that the convicts will prepare to apply for remission from the other state… We are thankful to the SC that they will be sent back to jail for now,” he said.

A source close to the family added that Bilkis, her husband and their children have been living at an undisclosed location since remission was granted to the convicts by the Gujarat government in August 2022.

Advocate Gupta, who represented Bilkis in the Supreme Court, told The Indian Express that the apex court had considered the long periods of parole granted to the convicts during their stay in Godhra sub-jail, while also “indicting the Gujarat government” for using the order of one convict to release all 11.

“Bilkis and the family are extremely happy. It is indeed a very good judgment, considering that only one person came and the Gujarat government considered the order to be applied to all 11… The SC has made it clear that the convicts must return to jail and also noted that Radheshyam Shah had ‘concealed facts’ that the authorities in Maharashtra, where the case had been tried, had submitted negative reports when he had approached the Bombay HC earlier,” she said.

Gupta added that the court took note of the fact that the convicts had enjoyed “leniency” while serving their sentence in Godhra sub-jail, being granted frequent paroles. “The court has considered their jail records and noted the fact that they were granted frequent paroles… They have been asked to turn themselves in within two weeks, failing which, the Gujarat police will have to start looking for them,” she said.

The Indian Express had in August 2022 reported how the convicts made frequent petitions for parole, spending up to 90 days on parole in a single year.