The convicts were released for "good behaviour". (FILE)
Eleven men convicted of raping Bilkis Bano and killing her entire family in the 2002 Gujarat riots were freed early over "good behaviour" and after the Centre's approval, the Gujarat government told the Supreme Court.
But NDTV has accessed multiple FIRs and police complaints accusing the convicts of threatening and harassing witnesses while out on parole, which runs contrary to the justification of the Gujarat government that the convicts were released for good behaviour and that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on their part while they were serving time.
Between 2017-2021, at least four witnesses in the Bilkis Bano case registered complaints and FIRs against the convicts, NDTV's investigation reveals.
NDTV has accessed one FIR and two police complaints.
*An FIR dated July 6, 2020, was registered against two of the convicts, Radheshyam Shah and Miteshbhai Bhatt.
The FIR was filed at Radhikpur police station in Dahod under sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intention to outrage modesty), 504 (intimidation), 506 (2) (threat to kill) and 114 (abetment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by Saberaben Patel, and a witness in the Bilkis Bano case, Pintubhai.
The FIR says three men, including two convicts and Radheshyam's brother Ashish, threatened Saberaben, her daughter Arfa and witness Pintubhai for implicating them with their statements.
* Mansuri Abdul Razzaq Abdul Majid, another witness, filed a police complaint with Dahod police against Sailesh Chimmanlal Bhatt on January 1, 2021. He, too, alleged threats from the convict while he was out on parole.
The complaint also alleges that Limkheda MLA Sailesh Bhai Bhabhor and former minister of state and Lok Sabha MP Jaswantsing Bhabhor felicitated Sailesh Chimmanlal Bhatt and praised him for "good deeds". A photo of the two BJP leaders sharing stage with Sailesh Bhatt was also attached in the complaint.
This complaint never turned into an FIR.
*Two other witnesses, Ghanchi Adambhai Ismailbhai and Ghanchi Imtiazbhai Yusufbhai, filed a complaint against one of the convicts, Govind Nai, on July 28, 2017. The applicants alleged that the accused threatened to kill them if they didn't agree to "compromise". This complaint also never turned into an FIR.
Yesterday, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi defended the convicts' release, citing their "good behaviour".
"When the government and the concerned people have taken the decision, I don't find anything wrong in it as it is a process of law," Prahlad Joshi, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, told NDTV.
Reacting to the outrage over the "law" for premature release applied to convicts sentenced for what the CBI called a "heinous, grave and serious" crime, the Minister echoed Gujarat's "good behaviour" argument.
"After having been in prison for some time, if their behaviour...there are so many incidents, I don't want to get into that," Mr Joshi said.
