The Hindu News Update Service

Victory for victims of post-Godhra riots: Teesta



New Delhi, (PTI): "It's a victory for the victims of Gujarat genocide of 2002", said social activist, Teesta Seetalvad, reacting to a Mumbai court's convicting 12 people in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case relating to post-Godhra communal riots.
"I think any victory in any case related to the Gujarat genocide of 2002 is a victory for the victims," she said.
Seetalvad said the courage of Bilkis Bano should be "celebrated" as much as her "complete determination to get to the bottom of it and to fight for justice."
She said Bilkis had to change her house 300 times, and accused the Gujarat government of threatening witnesses in the riots cases and trying to do everything to "resist an independent inquiry into them."
Accusing the politicians involved in the riots of trying to influence the criminal justice system, Seetalvad said it was necessary to move the trial of riots cases away from the scene of the crime in order to insulate the riots victims and the trial.
A special court in Mumbai convicted 12 persons, including a police official, in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, culminating a trial that was transferred out of Gujarat in the wake of intimidation of witnesses.
Seven persons were acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence, while one died during the course of trial.