MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by 11 convicts in the case of Bilkis Bano gang rape and murder of seven members of her family in 2002 and upheld their life imprisonment.
A Division Bench comprising Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Mridula Bhatkar also set aside the acquittal of seven persons, including policemen and doctors and dismissed an appeal filed by the CBI seeking the death penalty for three of the convicts.
Criminal lawyer Harshad Ponda appearing for five out of 11 convicts had said the ‘scene of offence’ and the ‘place of offence’ are disputed in the various testimonies of witnesses relied by the prosecution.
He had said there is a dispute in the number of dead bodies found at the scene of offence as photographs were taken on two consecutive days of the gang-rape and that the post mortem report also shows discrepancies.
However, the CBI sought death penalty for three and said it was important to send a message to society as this was a matter of communal violence and involved murder and rape.
While listing the aggravating circumstances in the case, Hiten Venegavkar, appearing for the CBI, said that even before the incident took place, the accused were involved in communal violence and hence it was a case of pre-planned murder. He added that the manner in which the woman was raped and members of the minority community were murdered made for an immoral crime.
The court also rejected an intervention application filed by Ms. Bano against those acquitted and sought for enhancement of quantum of those convicted.
In January 2008, a special court sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment for her gang-rape and murder of seven members of her family. The trial in the case had begun in Ahmedabad. However, after Ms. Bano expressed apprehensions that witnesses could be harmed and the CBI evidence tampered with, the Supreme Court transferred the case to Mumbai in August 2004.
The convicts are Jaswantbhai, Govindbhai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt and Ramesh Chandana.
