In the Bombay High Court on Thursday, criminal lawyer Harshad Ponda, appearing for the men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano in 2002, claimed that there were several omissions in her statements recorded in her examination-in chief and cross examination, and that there were discrepancies in her statements recorded in 2002 by the Godhra police and those recorded in 2004 by the Central Bureau of Investigation. He said that the defence and prosecution hadn’t agreed upon whether the offence was committed in a ravine or on a kaccha rasta [unpaved road] as Ms. Bano had said.
Ms. Bano, who was then 19 years old, and five months pregnant, was gang-raped in Randhikpur village, Gujarat, in 2002, in the aftermath of the communal riots there. A division bench of Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Mridula Bhatkar is hearing the appeal of the 11 men who, in 2008, were convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and the murder of seven members of Ms. Bano’s family, including her cousin’s newborn baby. The convicts appealed against the verdict in the HC in 2009. Ms. Bano had moved the Supreme Court, asking for the case to be shifted out of Gujarat, because she feared the witnesses would be influenced and statements would be tampered with. The HC is hearing the case on a daily basis. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh is appearing for the prosecution, and will make his arguments after the defence concludes.
Ms. Bano had recorded statements four times before the CBI in 2004, and those were read out in court. Ms. Bano’s 2004 statement said, “I had said there was a mob that carried swords that ran towards me and my family members but it has been omitted in the [Godhra police] statement,” and “The mob shouted in Gujarati, ‘Here are the Muslims, hit them and kill them’ but it has been omitted and I do not know the reason behind not including it my statement to the Godhra Police Station.”
