After the Supreme Court overturned the Gujarat government’s decision to grant remission to 11 convicts who were found guilty of the gangrape and murder of seven members of her family, Bilkis Bano said that “she felt justice” in her reaction to the apex court’s verdict.
“This is what justice feels like. I thank the honourable Supreme Court of India for giving me, my children and women everywhere this vindication and hope in the promise of equal justice for all,” Ms. Bano said in a written statement on Monday.
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In the statement, issued through her lawyer Shobha Gupta, the victim survivor of the 2002 riots thanked the SC for the verdict and said “today is truly the New Year for me”.
“I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and a half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again,” she said.
In the statement, she thanked her lawyer and expressed gratitude to her family for standing by her during her journey for justice.
“I have said before, and I say again today, journeys like mine can never be made alone. I have had my husband and my children by my side. I have had my friends who have given me so much love at a time of such hate, and held my hand at each difficult turn. I have had an extraordinary lawyer, Advocate Shobha Gupta, who has walked with me unwaveringly for over 20 long years, and who never allowed me to lose hope in the idea of justice,” Ms. Bano said.
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She said that “a year and a half ago, on August 15, 2022, when those who had destroyed my family and terrorised my very existence, were given an early release, I simply collapsed”, adding that she had felt she had exhausted her “reservoir of courage” until a “million solidarities” came her way.
She also expressed her gratitude towards all those who supported her by signing online petitions, the filing of a public interest litigation, and writing appeals or letters demanding justice for her and her family.
