Bilkis Bano case: India sees protests against remission of 11 convicts

Many cities saw protests against the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. Seen here is a protest in Bengaluru. (Express photo by Jithendra M)

Actress Shabana Azmi holds a placard during a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. On August 15, 11 convicts serving life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case from the 2002 Gujarat riots were freed after a state government panel approved their application for remission of sentence. (PTI)

The decision was taken after one of the convicts, Radheshyam Shah, moved the Supreme Court. Seen here is a protest in Bengaluru. (Express photo by Jithendra M)

Bilkis was gangraped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was among 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Limkheda taluka of Dahod district. Bilkis was pregnant at the time. Seen here is a protest in Bengaluru. (Express photo by Jithendra M)

Nationalist Congress Party members staged a protest demanding justice for Bilkis Bano at SSPM College, Shivajinagar, Pune. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

Joint protest by various organisations at Plaza in Sector 17, Chandigarh against the remission of 11 convicted rapists in the Bilkis Bano case. (Express photo by Kamleshwar Singh)

On January 21, 2008, CBI special court judge U D Salvi convicted 13 accused, sentencing 11 to life imprisonment on the charge of gangrape and murder following an in-camera trial in Mumbai. In May 2017, the conviction was upheld by the Bombay High Court. The photo is of protesters in Bengaluru. (Express photo by Jithendra M)

In 2019, the Supreme Court awarded compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Bilkis — the first such order in a case related to the 2002 riots. The photo is from the NCP protest in Pune. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

In the verdict of 2008, CBI special court judge Salvi termed Bilkis’s “courageous deposition” as the turning point in the case. The photo is from the protest in Delhi's Jantar Mantar. (PTI)

The judgment also considered that Bilkis had identified all the accused during the trial — she told the court that most of them were known to her and had purchased milk from her family. The photo shows protesters in Delhi's Jantar Mantar. (PTI)