AMN /
Bombay High Court today upheld conviction of 11 persons in the Bilqis Bano gang-rape case and refuses CBI’s request of death penalty for the three convicted for murder. The court also set aside acquittal of six persons, including doctors and policemen, convicting them for tampering of evidence in the case.
12 persons were originally charge-sheeted, but one of them expired during the pendency of the case.
A special court in Mumbai had on January 21, 2008 convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment 11 men for gang raping Bilqis and murdering seven of her family members in the aftermath of the Godhra riots.
The 11 convicts moved the Bombay High Court against their conviction. CBI had sought death penalty for the three men convicted in the case.
17 people, including Bilqis Bano, were attacked in Devgarh Baria village of Dahod district in Gujarat on 3rd March, 2002, in the aftermath of the Godhra train carnage. Bilqis was gang-raped during the attack. The trial in the case was transferred out of Gujarat as it was feared that witnesses might be intimidated or influenced.