Rasheed Ahmed
India has not accepted Pakistan wholeheartedly since its existence and has left no stone unturned to harm us. Muslims are the largest minority in India and suffer at the hands of the dominant Hindu majority. Minorities especially Muslims are not safe in India. There are many cases of Hindu terrorist attacks by Hindu extremist groups with the connivance of the government.The Indian government under the leadership of Narendra Modi has exposed itself by acquitting 11 people convicted of the rape and murder of a Muslim family, testifying to the climate of impunity against the oppressors of this religious minority. A crime that resurfaced on August 15 when Gujarat authorities released 11 people serving life sentences for the gang rape and murder of a family of 14, including a 3-year-old girl. Only one woman survived, 21-year-old Bilqis Bano, who was pregnant at the time and was raped and left for dead. On February 28, 2002, Bilkis Bano and her family escaped from their village, Randhikpur. Extremists had an open hand. Bilkis and his relatives wander from village to village in search of shelter. On March 3, a group of 25 men arrested them. Men were killed, women were raped, and However, Bilkis comes back to life and takes herself to a villager who comes to her aid. Then begins a long legal journey. She files a complaint and her story reaches the Supreme Court. After the local police refused to investigate, the Supreme Court transferred the file to the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI. The accused eventually appeared in court, which convicted them in 2008. After 14 years in prison, the prisoners demanded their early release. The Supreme Court formed a committee comprising officials from Hari Jhandi and Gujarat and BJP officials Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu fundamentalist party investigated the matter. The committee accepted the request and thus all 11 were released. The acquittal of the Bilkis Bano rape perpetrators shows that anti-Muslim crimes can be condoned and Hindu fundamentalists can be rewarded with the collusion of the authorities. This is part of the BJP’s discourse towards the 11 people who have been condemned. The turning point in Bilkis Bano’s case is the latest episode in the anti-Muslim hatred that has erupted since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. “BJP’s policy towards Muslims is murder, a new form of justice. This erosion of the rule of law comes seven weeks after the arrest of Teesta Setalvad and RB Sreekumar, two human rights activists working to bring those responsible for the 2002 massacre to justice. The detention of the 11 rapists, along with the lesser sentences given to them, raised doubts about the impartiality of the judicial machinery, Now the time has come that the international community, human rights activists, and justice-loving circles should step ahead, and raise voices for the Muslims of India.
