A senior police official in Gujarat has clarified that all the convicts involved in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape case are under police surveillance and have not gone missing. This statement comes after the Supreme Court rejected the plea for additional time to surrender by the 11 convicts earlier today.


According to news agency PTI, Bishakha Jain, Assistant Superintendent of Police in Dahod district, stated, "They have been under police watch ever since the Supreme Court gave its verdict on January 8, quashing the remission granted by the Gujarat government. We contacted all of them on that day itself, and it did not appear that they had any intention of going incommunicado after the verdict."


The convicted individuals, hailing from Singvad and Randhikpur villages in Singvad taluka of Dahod, voluntarily approached the police station after the Supreme Court's order on January 8, as per the cop. "They knew that they had to surrender, and they voluntarily came to the police station after the Supreme Court order to inform us about their whereabouts. It is not true that they have gone missing," ASP Jain told PTI.


The Supreme Court, on January 8, had directed the convicts, who were released prematurely on Independence Day in 2022, to surrender before jail authorities by January 21. Today, the court declined to grant them additional time. Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, presiding over the bench, noted that the reasons cited by the applicants for seeking postponement of surrender had no merit.


"The reasons, such as health issues, impending surgery, marriage in the family, and harvest work, in no way prevent them from complying with our directions," the bench stated, as quoted by PTI.


More On It: Bilkis Bano Case: SC Junks Pleas By 11 Convicts Seeking More Time To Surrender


Bilkis Bano Rasool was 21 years old and five months pregnant when she was gang-raped during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. Her three-year-old daughter was among seven members of her family who were killed in the violence.


In 2008, all 11 convicts were given life imprisonment by a special court in Mumbai, and the decision was upheld by a division bench of the Bombay High Court in 2017.


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