Bilkis case, Rahul says SC verdict showed country who gives patronage to criminals

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday slammed the BJP over the Supreme Court quashing the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case, saying the verdict has shown once again who the “protector of criminals” is.

Earlier in the day, the apex court said the Gujarat government abused its power in grating the remission to the men convicted of gang-raping Bilkis Bano and murdering seven of her family members during the 2002 riots, and ordered that they be sent back to jail within two weeks.

The Gujarat government’s remission order was without application of mind, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said and asked whether “heinous crimes against women permit remission” whatever faith she may follow or creed she may belong to.