Some convicts in the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots are "Brahmins” with good sanskaar (values) and may have been 'fixed' for their family activities, a BJP MLA, who was in the State Government panel that recommended remission to all the 11 men found guilty, has said.
However, a day after making the claim on camera to news portal Mojo Story, Godhra MLA C K Raulji said he believes that rapists do not have any caste and those guilty should be punished.
"Rapists do not belong to any caste, and I have not said anything like that. My statement is being shown in a wrong way.
If someone is guilty he should get punishment for it. We should respect court's verdict,' Raulji tweeted on Friday. His tweet came a day after his statement on the caste of some of the convicts of Bilkis Bano case created controversy.
Raulji on Thursday said he does not know whether the convicts, released after spending more than 15 years in jail, were involved in the crime. On August 15, all the 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2002 case of Bilkis Bano's gang rape and murder of her seven family members during the communal riots walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the BJP government in Gujarat allowed their release under its remission policy.
"We took the decision on the basis of a Supreme Court order. We were asked to look at their (convicts') behaviour and decide (on their early release)," Raulji, who was one of the members of the government-appointed committee that recommended granting of remission to the convicts, told Mojo Story news portal.
"We asked the jailer and learnt that their behaviour was good in the prison...Also (some of the convicts) are Brahmins. They have good 'sanskaar' (values)," said the ruling party legislator.
The Gujarat government's decision has invited sharp criticism from the opposition parties who have said the move was against the Centre's guidelines. However, Raulji said the convicts may have been fixed.