D Raja hails SC judgement on remission awarded to Bilkis Bano convicts

Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja on Monday hailed the Supreme Court judgement quashing remission awarded to convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case of Gujarat.

Raja, who was here to attend a party function, after which he also met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, expressed his views on X.

''SC's comment that remission for convicts in Bilkis Bano case was 'obtained by fraud and suppression of facts' has exposed BJP's hollow claims of women's safety and empowerment,'' said Raja, sharing a news report about the apex court judgement.

He also said, ''BJP under (Prime Minister) Modi went to shameless heights to protect rapists & murderers. This decision (has) shown them the mirror''.

All 11 convicts were granted remission by the Gujarat government and released from prison on August 15, 2022.

Notably, Bano had lost seven of her family members, including a three-year-old daughter, in the 2002 Gujarat riots. She was 21 years old and five months pregnant at the time of the sexual assault.

Earlier, addressing a function held in the memory of late CPI leader Chandrashekhar Singh, Raja slammed the Narendra Modi government for ''making Ram temple at Ayodhya an election issue''.

He noted with concern that even in states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where the BJP was not a force to reckon with, the saffron party was trying to rouse public sentiment on the issue of the temple which the PM is scheduled to inaugurate later this month.

''These activities of the prime minister's party fly in the face of his big claims of making India the third largest economy in the world. The communists must rise to the occasion. Bihar is one state in the Hindi heartland where the ground is fertile for a left movement'', said Raja.

Later, the CPI leader, whose party is a junior partner in the ruling Mahagathbandhan of the state, called on the Bihar CM at his official residence.

The two leaders are understood to have discussed the entire gamut of issues related to the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, including sharing of seats in the INDIA bloc, of which both CPI and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) are key constituents.