Kavitha, Mahua Moitra slams BJP after Bilkis Bano rape case convict shares stage with saffron party MP

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has expressed their opinions after one of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case shared a stage with a BJP MP and MLA at a government programme on Saturday.

Shailesh Bhatt, a convict in the Bilkis Bano rape case, was present at the launch of a group water supply scheme, along with Dahod BJP MP Jasvantsinh Bhabhor and Limkheda MLA Sailesh Bhabhor.

Taking to Twitter Kavitha said, "Bilkis Bano Rapist openly shares stage with BJP MPs and MLAs.

What have we become as a community that perpetrators of heinous crimes against women are being celebrated and given a platform while the victims plead for justice.

India is watching!"

Similarly, Moitra Tweeted, "Bilkis Bano's Rapist Shares Stage With Gujarat's BJP MP, MLA.

I want to see these monsters back in jail and the key thrown away. And I want this satanic government that applauds this travesty of justice voted out. I want India to reclaim her moral compass."

MLA Jasvantsinh Bhabhor shared the photographs from the event on social media. He wrote, "At Limkheda taluka of Dahod district, Kadana dam bulk pipeline-based Limkheda group water supply scheme under the estimated amount of 101.89 crore works was laid. In which 43 villages of Limkheda taluka, 18 villages of Singhwad taluka and 3 villages of Jhalod taluka will benefit from this scheme."

On the other hand, the Supreme Court will hear pleas against the premature release of 11 convicts who gang-raped Bilkis Bano and murdered her family members during the 2002 Godhra riots, on Monday.

The Gujarat government granted remission to these convicts on August 10 last year, and they walked free on August 15, 2022.

The case will be heard by a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna on March 27.

In March 2002, Bilkis Bano and her family were attacked during the post-Godhra riots, and she was gang-raped and left to die with 14 members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter.