One of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case, who was released early and granted remission by the Gujarat government, was booked for 'outraging the modesty' of another woman on 19 June 2020 while he was out on parole, the state government's affidavit before the Supreme Court has revealed.
Mitesh Chimanlal Bhatt (57) was booked under Sections 354, 504, 506 (2) of the IPC in June 2020 by Randhikpur police and a chargesheet was filed in the case. By 25 May, Bhatt had "enjoyed 954 parole, furlough leaves" in the Bilkis Bano case.
Even after the FIR was registered in 2020, he was out of prison for 281 days.
This information, which was sent to the District Magistrate Dahod by the district superintendent of police when the government was considering the proposal to release the convicts, was accessed by The Quint as part of the annexures in the government's affidavit.
The Gujarat government, in its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, had said that it had decided to release the convicts because they had “completed 14 years and above in prison… their behaviour was found to be good” and the Centre had also given a go-ahead for the premature release and remission.
The affidavit was in response to two petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging the remission -- one by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revati Laul and academician Roop Rekha Verma, and the other by TMC MP Mahua Moitra.
Bilkis was gangraped while she was pregnant and her three-year-old daughter was among those killed by a mob during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
However, on 15 August this year, the Gujarat government had released all the 11 men convicted in the case, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)