The Bombay High Court has rejected an intervention application filed by Bilkis Bano, a 2002 Gujarat riots victim. A division bench of Justices V K Tahilramani and Mridula Bhatkar ruled that the application cannot be allowed under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), but as the court was inclined to hear Bilkis, she may convert her application into an appeal.
The court further said that the appeal, however, cannot challenge the life sentence awarded to the eleven convicts. The court observed that the appeal can only challenge the acquittal of five personnel of Gujarat Police. The HC asked Bilkis’s lawyer Vijay Hiremath to inform the court about her decision on Thursday.
Hiremath had argued that Bilkis, being the victim and an eyewitness, had the right to become an intervenor as per a 2008 amendment to the CrPC. CBI lawyer Hiten Venegaonkar argued that the victim, if allowed to participate in the hearing, must bring additional information, something omitted by the prosecution. On March 3, 2002, Bilkis Bano’s family was attacked by a mob at Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad during post-Godhra violence killing seven members of the family. Bilkis, who was five-month pregnant, was gang-raped.