Skip to main content

Bilkis Bano case convicts release shows height of Modi's Machiavellian manoeuvres

The All India Working Women Forum of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) demands rearrest of rapists and murderers of Bilkis Bano:

***
All India Working Women Forum of AITUC registers the most vehement condemnation on the release of the rapists of Bilkis Bano. Gujarat government has released the 11 criminals serving life sentence for the heinous crimes of rape and murder in the infamous Bilkis Bano gang rape case. The release that was recommended by the committee under the Gujarat remission policy is in violation of the Union Government’s guidelines for remission.These guidelines exclude those who are convicted for rape and murder for the benefit of remission.They, in any yardstick, do not deserve consideration for early release. AIWWF – AITUC, while condemning the release, very strongly urges upon the Union government to intervene to withdraw the release of these convicts - rapists and murderers.
In a weird dichotomy of sorts the Prime Minister, in his Independence day address from the ramparts of the red fort, talks of respecting ‘narishakthi’, on the same day his own party led government releases the rapists. The Machiavellian manoeuvres of the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi scale newer heights day by day. Deceptive double talk of ‘beti bachao’ is flagrantly exposed yet again. This release is a double jeopardy of gender and religion. Odious blend of gender prejudice and communal hatred of the Hindutva ideology has reached a crescendo. Yet, the Prime Minister masquerades as the messiah of the masses shamelessly. Nothing that happens is casual. Everything is conscientiously done with the particular knowledge of the Prime Minister. This is dangerous for the country. The Prime Minister must take the moral responsibility and owe an apology to the nation before setting right the wrong done in the release of the criminals.
Ironically this is the real face of the ‘New India’ that Mr Modi boasts of. This is indeed a disgraced and ignominious reality that India is dishonourably faced with. The premature release of the rapists brings more outrage now than the wretched pain and desolate anguish of the blood curdling act of gang rape of Bilkis Bano, a pregnant woman and the brutal killing of her family including her three year old daughter. This release is an affront against the doctrine of justice and a slur on the constitutional commitment to protect women. All India Working Women Forum of AITUC terms the release of the rapists and murders as shameful, outrageous and condemnable and demands immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the release and reincarceration of the criminals.

Comments

TRENDING

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad*  On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Sharp rise in militarization of Bastar as in Kashmir? 54,543 hectares set aside for Army maneuver: FACAM

By Our Representative  In the wake of a recent press conference   by Home Minister Amit Shah, the civil rights organization Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) has raised alarms over a significant increase in militarization efforts in Chhattisgarh. The state government has tasked the Narayanpur district administration with acquiring and reallocating 54,543 hectares of land within the Abhujmad forests for the establishment of a maneuver range meant for the Indian Army. 

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Industries fueling climate crisis draining public funds in Global South: ActionAid

By Our Representative  A new ActionAid report has exposed the alarming financial drain on the Global South, as climate-wrecking industries like fossil fuels and industrial agriculture receive over US$600 billion annually in public subsidies. The report, "How the Finance Flows: Corporate Capture of Public Finance Fuelling the Climate Crisis in the Global South", reveals that an average of US$677 billion in public finance is directed toward climate-destructive sectors each year, depriving crucial social sectors such as education. 

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

'Direct support to genocide': IISc's India-Israel business meet to track defence, cybersecurity cooperation

By Our Representative  An online petition endorsed by hundreds of scholars, activists and professionals across the world has asked Prof Govindan Rangarajan, director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to stop the India Israel Business Summit proposed to be held on 23rd September, "and not allow the use of the IISc as a platform to legitimise genocide and colonialism."

West Bengal rural Dalit children 'deprived of' pre-school education, complementary ICDS food

By Kirity Roy*  In a representation to the Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department Government of West Bengal, I have highlighted a critical issue concerning the children of Boaldah village, located in the Bongaon block of North 24 Pargana district. This situation appears to infringe upon Article 21-A of the Constitution of India and Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, specifically relating to the right to an adequate standard of living.