Dear Editor,
The eleven convicts have been ordered by the Supreme Court to surrender in 2 weeks and walk back to jail in the Bilkis case. The remission of life sentence of the convicts by the Gujarat government incurred the wrath of the Supreme Court for usurping the powers of the Maharashtra government. The bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan held the view that the Gujarat government is not the ‘appropriate government’ within the meaning of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code to take decision on remission. The offence was committed in Gujarat but the trial was conducted in Maharashtra on the orders of the Supreme Court. Wearer only knows where shoe pinches. It is natural that the premature release of the convicts pained the Bilkis since she had undergone the trauma during the Gujarat riots. It was tragic that the victim lost her 3-year old child and seven members of her family. The judgment is welcome. But the doors for convicts seeking remission of sentences have not been closed. They are at liberty to move the Maharashtra government for remission of sentences since it is the appropriate government in view of the fact that the trial was conducted in that state. The opposition parties have welcomed the judgment not because the judgment assuaged the feelings of Bilkis but because the judgment has come against the Gujarat government. Bilkis Bano was the victim of mob frenzy following the burning of the coaches of train in which 59 kar sevaks and Hindu pilgrims were travelling and they were burnt alive. Everyone talks of Godhra carnage but hardly do the people talk the source of trouble that entailed in Godhra carnage. The family members of these kar sevaks were in grief. More often than not the source of trouble is either forgotten or ignored. Trouble mongers and trouble creators deserve more stringent punishment than the ones who respond in the language the trouble makers understand. If the kar sevaks had not been killed, the Godhra incident would not have occurred. Bilkis Bano case is also the fall-out of kar sevaks burning. Godhra incident was reaction for action. Sympathy should go to both the sides. There is little for the opposition parties to cheer about the indictment of the Gujarat government by the Supreme Court. The courts have praised and admonished the governments irrespective of the parties in power. It is appalling that the killing of 59 kar sevaks did not get as much attention by the media, politicians and public as the Bilkis Bano case. It must be noted that the kar sevaks were killed without any provocation from the deceased.
K.V. Seetharamaiah