11 May 2017: Press conference addressed by Bilkis Bano and felicitation of Mr. R. K. Shah

WHAT: Press Conference to be addressed by BILKIS BANO, brave survivor of one of the worst episodes of communal sexual assault and murder in independent India, and felicitation of Mr RK Shah, prominent advocate and special public prosecutor of the Bilkis Bano case in sessions court, Mumbai.

WHEN: Monday, May 11, 2017 at 4 pm

WHERE: Ahmedabad Management Association, Ahmedabad

On May 4th 2017, the Bombay High Court delivered a historic verdict in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape and murder case, among the most heinous in the Gujarat 2002 violence.

  • First time 5 Gujarat police officers convicted of evidence tampering and cover up; thus complicit in mass murder and gang rape of a pregnant 19 year old
  • Conviction of 11 men who gang-raped and murdered is upheld.
  • CBI appeal for death penalty for three main rapists and murderers is refused

What does this verdict and journey to justice mean for a woman violated at the young age of 19, because the State failed her? For, this comes 15 long years after Bilkis’s life was torn apart.

Is Bilkis Bano disappointed today, because she did not get the death penalty for those who gang-raped her and murdered her family, including her baby daughter Saleha?

What does this verdict mean for today’s India, with growing violence against Muslim minorities? What does this verdict mean for State complicity in mass sexual violence? For holding the State accountable for its crimes? Is this a ray of hope for India’s constitutional values? Or, is it too little too late?

Addressing these questions will be:

  • Bilkis Bano
  • Yakub Rasool (Bilkis Bano’s husband)
  • RK Shah, advocate
  • Farah Naqvi, human rights activist
  • Gagan Sethi, human rights educator

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