Actor Shabana Azmi Breaks Down: Bilkis Bano's Rapists' Release "Shameful"
NDTV
Bilkis Bano was 21 when seven members of her family were killed in the Gujarat riots. The attackers were her neighbours; they killed her three-year-old daughter by bashing her head against rocks. Bilkis was gang-raped.
Shabana Azmi today broke down as she expressed her shame and horror at the Bilkis Bano case convicts being freed by the Gujarat government last month, 15 years after they were jailed. The acclaimed actor said she was stunned at the sheer injustice of it and the silence of the society in general.
“I have no words (for Bilkis Bano) except that I am deeply ashamed. I have no other words,” Shabana Azmi said in an interview to NDTV.
Bilkis Bano was 21 when seven members of her family were killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The attackers were her neighbours; they killed her three-year-old daughter by bashing her head against rocks. Bilkis, who was five months pregnant, was gang-raped.
On August 15, as the nation celebrated 75 years of Independence, the 11 rapists walked free as special remission granted by the state, and they were greeted with sweets and garlands.
