The Gujarat government was deemed incompetent by the Supreme Court to have granted remission to eleven convicted individuals who were given life sentences for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Bilkis Bano said, “Today is truly the New Year for me. I have wept tears of relief. I have smiled for the first time in over a year and half. I have hugged my children. It feels like a stone the size of a mountain has been lifted from my chest, and I can breathe again. This is what justice feels like. I thank the honourable Supreme Court of India for giving me, my children and women everywhere, this vindication and hope in the promise of equal justice for all.”
