Gujarat. A senior Gujarat police officer said on Friday (January 19) that all the accused in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members are under ‘police surveillance’ and have not gone missing. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had refused to grant more time to the 11 convicts in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots to surrender.
Assistant Superintendent of Police of Dahod district, Bishakha Jain, said, “Ever since the Supreme Court announced its decision (to cancel the remission granted to the convicts), they have been under police surveillance. We contacted all of them the same day and it did not appear that they had any intention of not staying in touch. The culprits are from Singwad and Randhikpur villages of Singwad taluka of Dahod.” The IPS officer said, “He knew that he had to surrender and after the Supreme Court order (January 8) he voluntarily came to the police station to inform us about his whereabouts. There is no truth that he has gone missing.”
Justice B. A bench of Justice V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had asked the convicts, who were given premature release on Independence Day in 2022, to surrender before the jail authorities by January 21. The apex court on Friday refused to give him more time. On the other hand, a rumor was spread on social media that the culprits in the rape case have absconded, but now a senior officer of Gujarat Police has denied it.
