File Photo of Bombay High Court
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of all the 12 accused in the Bilkis Bano gang rape case.
The court also set aside the acquittal of five other accused and convicted them for tampering of evidence.
The HC, however, refused CBI’s appeal of death penalty for three accused.
A special court had on January 21, 2008, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment 11 men for gang-raping Bilkis and murdering seven of her family members in the aftermath of the Godhra riots.
The convicts later approached the HC and sought quashing of the trial court’s order.
The CBI had also filed an appeal in the HC seeking death sentence for three of the 11 convicts on the ground that they were the main perpetrators of the crime.
According to the prosecution, a mob had attacked Bilkis’ family at Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad during the post-Godhra riots on March 3, 2002, and killed seven members.