The defence punctured holes in the CBI version of Bilkis Bano’s gang rape and death in an appeal hearing in the Bombay High Court on Thursday.
Criminal defence lawyer Harshad Ponda who is appearing for five out of 11 convicts stated that the ‘scene of offence’ and the ‘place of offence’ are disputed in the various testimonies of witnesses relied by the prosecution. Counsel also said that there was 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.
Interrupting the hearing, CBI counsel Hiten Venegavkar informed the court that the additional solicitor general Anil Singh would be arguing for the State once Mr. Ponda was done. The court fumed on hearing this and asked him how Mr. Singh can argue if he wasn’t present to know the submissions made by the defence.
A division bench of Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Mridula Bhatkar is hearing the appeal of those convicted for gang raping 19-year-old Bilkis Bano from Randhikpur village in Gujarat in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots in 2002. 11 men were convicted with life imprisonment for the gang rape and killing seven of Bilkis’ family members and an infant born to her cousin.
