Bilkis case convict on stage with BJP MP, MLA brother at Gujarat govt event

In photographs of the event released by the Dahod District Information Department, Bhatt is seated in the front row, between Jasvantsinh Bhabhor and Kanta Damor, president of the Singvad taluka panchayat. The dais backdrop has pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Minister of Water Supply Kunvarji Bavaliya, and Jasvantsinh Bhabhor.

Bhatt told The Indian Express, “It (GWSSB) was a public event that I attended… I don’t have anything else to say.”

While MP Jasvantsinh Bhabhor did not respond to queries seeking his comment on Bhatt’s presence, his brother Shailesh Bhabhor said, “Being the MLA, I was so busy at the event that I did not see who else was sitting on the dais. I will check if he (Bhatt) was present at the event.”

Officials of the Dahod district administration said they were “unaware” who invited Bhatt to the event.

Pradeep Parmar, Deputy Engineer of the GWSSB, Dahod, said, “The invitations are not sent out by the water supply department even if the event is organised by us… The taluka panchayat members would have invited the guests. We do not know who decided the seating on the dais. It is possible that the local engineer of the GWSSB in Limkheda would have been privy to the list.”

The Bhabhors performed the groundbreaking ceremony of a Rs 101.88-crore project, which will see a network of pipelines to bring potable water to 64 villages of Limkheda, Singvad and Jhalod talukas from Kadana dam in Mahisagar district.

Bhatt and 10 others, sentenced to life for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of 14 of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots, were granted remission on August 15, 2022.

On March 27, a bench of the Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging the premature release of the 11 convicts.