‘Statement by Bilkis has holes’

The defence in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case attempted to show before the Bombay high court on Thursday that there are several discrepancies and omissions in the statement that the victim recorded before the CBI and Godhra police.

A division bench of Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Mridula Bhatkar is hearing the appeal filed against the conviction as well as the appeal filed by the state government that seeks enhancement of punishment for the convicts. Eleven men were convicted with life imprisonment for Bano’s gang rape and killing seven of her family members and an infant born to her cousin sister.

Bano – who was 19 years old and five-months pregnant at the time of the incident – was gang-raped by the convicts during the unrest that took place during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

On Thursday, the defence read out Bano’s statement recorded by the Godhra police as well as the CBI to show discrepancies and omissions in it.

In the meantime, the bench asked the defence to prepare a chart of whatever it wanted to point out to the court so that the same could be noticed easily and considered while the matter was being decided.

The defence also read out the cross-examination of Bano, recorded by a trial court. During her cross-examination, she had once said, “Limkheda police wanted to show my complaint as false and thus didn’t mention some facts.”