Actor-turned-politician Khushbhu, who is with BJP currently, on Wednesday staunchly attacked the BJP regime in Gujarat for its contentious decision of releasing the convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case during the Gujarat riots. All the eleven convicts in the case were released on August 15 and the Gujarat government's decision to release them prematurely has sparked nationwide outrage. 

While the BJP is backing the release, not every leader in the party is happy about it and according to reports, at least two BJP leaders have reprimanded the release and one of them is Tamil Nadu BJP leader Khushbhu, who has staunchly attacked the BJP government in Gujarat for releasing the convicts by stating that the release is an insult to humankind.

Taking to Twitter, Khushbhu wrote, "A woman who is raped, assaulted, brutalised and her soul scarred for life must get justice. No man who has been involved in it should go free. If he does so, it's an insult to humankind and womanhood. #BilkisBano or any woman, needs support, beyond politics n ideologies. Period." Her tweet has gained a lot of traction and created heatwaves in the BJP. 

The convicts were in the prison for gang-raping Bilkis Bano and killing seven of her family members during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. Bano was alive and she came out to fight for justice. In 2007, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and in January 2008, a special CBI court in Mumbai had sentenced the eleven accused to life imprisonment for committing heinous crimes of a gang-rape and murder.

The sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court. After serving over 15 years of incarceration, one of the convicts has approached the Supreme Court with a plea for his premature release. Based on his plea, the top court has issued a direction to the Gujarat government to look into the issue of remission of his sentence as per its 1992 policy on the basis of the date of his conviction. 

The BJP government had then installed a committee and issued an order allowing the premature release of all the convicts from jail. With the release order, all the eleven convicts walked out of Godhra prison on August 15 and they were welcomed with garlands as they got released from the prison. However, several parties have approached the Supreme Court and filed a Public Interest Litigation against the order of releasing them. On the other hand, the BJP regime is flayed for its decision and it has now witnessed a staunch voice of dissent from within the party. 

A woman who is raped, assaulted, brutalised and her soul scarred for life must get justice. No man who has been involved in it should go free. If he does so, it's an insult to humankind and womanhood. #BilkisBano or any woman, needs support, beyond politics n ideologies. Period.

— KhushbuSundar (@khushsundar) August 24, 2022