The defence in 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape case, which was part of 2002 Gujarat riots, on Wednesday in its arguments disputed the place of the incident. It claimed that there is a contradiction in the statement of complainant and the place pointed out by the investigating agency.
On the second day of hearing appeal of the convicts in the gangrape case, senior lawyer Harshad Ponda told the division bench of Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Mridula Bhatkar that there is a set of photographs of the dead bodies but those photographs cannot be looked into by the court because all the five connected witnesses (who can prove genuineness of these photographs) have turned hostile during the trial and they cannot be relied upon.
Advocate Ponda on behalf of five of the 11 convicts told the bench that the police came to know about the incident only after Bilkis Bano went to police station and registered a complaint and as per her statement the incident took place in a ravine while CBI after one-and-half years of the incident came up with a story that the incident had taken place at Kachcha Rasta which is few kilometres away from the ravine.
He pointed out to court that the doctors examined as witnesses were asked questions about presence of blood at the spot where dead bodies were found and questions were asked on the basis of photographs taken on second and third day of the incident. According to the defence, there is every possibility of witnesses not being able to give accurate answers about presence of blood on the scene of crime on the basis of photographs.
Meanwhile, CBI counsel Hiten Venegaonkar informed the court that the additional solicitor general Anil Singh would be arguing for the state.
On this the judges warned the CBI counsel that they do not want court’s time to be wasted. Advocate Venegaonkar assured the court that court’s time will not be wasted and he would take note of arguments made by the defence.
The prosecution’s case is that the convicts had gang raped 19-year-old Bilkis Bano from Randhikpur village in Gujarat when she was five months’ pregnant.
Eleven men have been convicted with life imprisonment for the gangrape and killing seven of Bilkis’s family members.
