It was back in 2002. Gujarat, the state from which the apostle of non-violence hailed was witness to post-Godhra riots which targeted minority Muslim community, who were sitting ducks before marauding Hindu rioters following the burning of a train that carried karsevaks from Ayodhya.  The communal madness left 1,044 dead, 223 missing and 2,500 injured.

 21 year-old Bilkis Bano fled her home in Randhikpur village with her 3 year-old daughter, her husband and other family members to escape from the advancing murderous Hindu mob. Bano was 5 months pregnant.

Bilkis and her family had reached chhaparvad district near Ahmadabad when a mob of 20-30 men attacked the fleeing family with sickles, stones and swords.11 of these men gang-raped Bano, her mother and three other women. Seven of the family including her 3 year-old daughter were killed by the mob.

 The local police rejected her case. Bilkis approached the National Human Rights Commission in 2003, eventually filing an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court instructed the CBI to investigate the case. The CBI apprehended all the accused in 2004. The trial was transferred from Ahmadabad to Mumbai over fears of tampering evidence. 13 in the case were convicted on charges of rape, murder and conspiracy. 11 were awarded life sentences. These convicts challenged their conviction in the Bombay High Court in 2008. With the accused attempting to overturn the judgment on multiple occasions, and the CBI persisting for death penalty, the High Court upheld its previous order of life sentence for 11 in 2017.

One of the convicts Radheshyam Shah approached the High Court and Supreme Court seeking early release in 2022, having already served 15 years. The Supreme Court passed the case to Gujarat government.

On August 15, 2022 the Gujarat government released all 11 convicts in the case under its remission policy. The released lawbreakers were greeted with garlands and laddoos in the office of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad! Ever since the BJP-led government assumed governance, the Indian laddoo industry has been enjoying hay days. The first victory of the BJP-led NDA in the 2014 general elections had the victors distribute laddoos across the length and breadth of the country. I was offered laddoos in my home city of Kochi in Kerala by an unruly mob drunk on the landslide victory on my way back from work back then, which I politely refused to accept. ‘Politely’ because I cared for the integrity of my car’s window panes!

 The celebrated release of the rapists sparked major public backlash, and prompted petitions from opposition MPs. In 2022, Bilkis Bano filed an appeal in the Supreme Court to review the decision of the Gujarat government to release the 11 convicts.

On January 8, 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed the remission of the convicts. They were ordered to surrender before the authorities in 2 weeks.

The bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan strongly rebuked the Gujarat government for prematurely releasing the convicts who had torn the life of a woman belonging to a minority community to shreds. The Court described the Gujarat government’s action ‘abuse of power’, and charged it being in complicit with the wrongdoers.

It remains to be seen what the BJP-ruled Gujarat Government proposes to do following the Supreme Court rubbishing its decision to release the tormentors of Bano. Would the Gujarat government, and the central government, both ruled by the BJP act in the manner they would have, if it were an opposition-ruled state that was pulled up by the apex Court instead of Gujarat government?

After all, the elections to state assemblies in the Hindi heartland in November of 2023 saw BJP emerge as, and don a new garb of ‘women’s messiah’, which helped the party win spectacularly, especially in Madhya Pradesh. Will the BJP choose to be Bano’s Messiah too? Or will the ‘women’s messiah’ role remain just an election ploy as suspected?

After all, BJP has been the party seeking to right every wrong in the nation. It sought to right the wrongs committed by Jawaharlal Nehru by having NCERT strike off references to the first Indian Prime Minister to whom the BJP seems to have some strange anaphylaxis, from textbooks. It sought to right the wrongs committed by Mugal emperors by changing the names of cities, streets and other establishments named after them, and also contemplated tearing down the Taj Mahal built by Ustad Ahmad Lahori during the reign of  Shah jahan!

It sought to right the wrongs committed by the Britishers, and their influence in Indian society by removing the hymn, ‘Abide with Me’ from the ceremonial Beating the Retreat, and replacing the British-era Criminal Laws. It sought to right wrongs committed by Englishmen and their influence by replacing the original Parliament building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker.

Will BJP which seeks to reverse and undo history it finds unfavorable to its scheme of things, and considers it a hindrance to enforce its brand of nationalism and patriotism seek to right one of the most horrendous chapters of Indian history that Bilkis Bano represents?   

Will the BJP seek to right the wrong inflicted on Bilkis Bano by Hindu zealots, fuelled by murderous hate and indoctrination? Will the BJP have the 11 convicts freed by the Gujarat Government locked up once again to complete their terms of incarceration? Even if the money spent on Laddoos and garlands by the VHP goes to naught?

 Will the self-proclaimed messiah of Indian women walk the talk on Bilkis Bano?