New Delhi: Telangana minister KT Rama Rao (‘KTR') today hit back at “silly trolls”, who've been alleging inaction in a recent rape case in Hyderabad after KTR criticised the release of 11 rape and murder convicts in Gujarat's Bilkis Bano case.
The accused in the Hyderabad case were “arrested swiftly and sent to jail”, he tweeted. “After 45 days, the High Court had granted them bail… Loopholes in Juvenile Justice Act, IPC & CrPC have resulted in the rapists getting out on bail” in the Jubilee Hills case, he added.
“That's the reason why I am demanding that these acts be amended so no rapist gets bail and, when convicted, remains in jail till death,” he added, pressing on his stance in the Bilkis Bano case.
Earlier, he had slammed the release of the 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for Ms Bano's gangrape and the murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
“This is a blot on the collective conscience of our nation,” KTR had tweeted, reacting specifically to the convicts being welcomed with sweets and garlands.
“What happened to Bilkis Bano today can happen to anyone of us tomorrow,” he wrote.
The Gujarat government has said the convicts — in jail since their sentencing in 2008 — were released as per a remission policy, only after the Supreme Court asked the state to take a decision on a plea by one of them.
As for the case of rape of a 17-year-old in Hyderabad's Jubilee Hills around two months ago, five of the six accused are below 18 years of age, which means relatively less strict laws apply to them. They got bail last month.
Saduddin Malik, the one who's not a minor, got bail in early August after 61 days in jail. His lawyer had argued that Malik was entitled to bail as the police investigation was over and the chargesheet filed as well.