The central government’s had received a lot of backlash on its decision to approve the early release of 11 convicts sentenced to life for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her seven family members on ‘good behaviour’ claim.
The claim has now been shredded by multiple FIRs and police complaints revealed against the convicts, who spent thousands of days on parole even before their premature release. Accusing the convicts of threatening and harassing witnesses while out on parole, which runs contrary to the ‘good behaviour’ justification.
The Gujarat government claimed there was no evidence of any wrong doing by the convicts while they were serving time, but the records show that two of the convicts – Ramesh Chandana, 58, and Mitesh Bhatt, 57 – had offences registered against them during their parole.
Mitesh Bhatt, for instance, was accused of assaulting a woman with the intention of outraging her modesty.
Bhatt, 57, was booked under Section 354, 504, 506 (2) of the IPC in June 2020 by Randhikpur police and a chargesheet has been filed in the case, to the official documents. Till May 25, Bhatt had “enjoyed 954 parole, furlough leaves” in the Bilkis Bano case. Even after registration of the FIR in 2020, he was out of prison for 281 days.