Following the Supreme Court's verdict remitting the Gujarat government's decision to grant early release to the 11 rape convicts on Monday, January 8, Bilkis Bano expressed that the judgement brought relief and she could “breathe again.” In a statement released through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, she said, “Today is truly the New Year for me,” the survivor of the 2002 riots said, thanking the Supreme Court for the verdict.
“I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and a half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again. This is what justice feels like. 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 thanked her family, friends and her lawyer for offering her support and standing by her side for the past 20 years. “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,” she said.
She said that the early release of the perpetrators had left her emotionally drained. However, She regained her courage through a wave of support that followed, with thousands of people coming forward to support her in the form of PIL petitions, appeals and open letters. PIL petitions were filed, and appeals and open letters poured in from across the country, totaling 65,500 expressions of solidarity. “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,” she said.
On January 8, the Supreme Court nullified the remission of sentence and release of the 11 convicts involved in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots. All the 11 rape convicts have been directed to surrender back to prison within two weeks. The Gujarat government's decision to release the convicts on August 15, 2022, under the state's remission policy had sparked widespread outrage. The apex court held that the state of Gujarat had no jurisdiction to pass the remission orders. The remission orders were challenged through PILs filed by various individuals and organisations, including CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, the National Federation of Indian Women, and Asma Shafique Shaikh.