Bilkis Bano case: Protestors demand arrest of convicts, after they seek time to surrender before SC
Bengaluru: A group of protestors gathered in the city’s freedom park on Thursday, expressing solidarity with the Supreme Court order and demanding immediate arrest of all 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case. The demonstrators also urged that the SC must decline the convicts' appeal for an extension for the surrender deadline.
The Supreme Court on January 08 (Monday) canceled Gujarat government’s order of granting early release to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and ordered all the 11 men to surrender to jail authorities within two weeks. However, the convicts appealed before the apex court seeking extension of deadline to surrender citing reasons such as son’s marriage, leg surgery, sole caretaker of parents and others.
Several protestors from different parts of the city participated, calling out slogans in support of Bilkis. “People propagate the idea that women should move ahead in society, however that never happened. Parents are fearing to send their children to school/colleges. The government should ensure that girls feel safe in the country. We demand the immediate arrest of all the 11 convicts, that is why we are demonstrating today,” said a protestor.
Another protestor Vi alias Vandar Kolali, said, “This protest is in solidarity to the SC judgment.” Kolali further condemned Gujarat Government’s release of convicts and the alleged celebration of their release. He remarked, ‘people celebrated the release of convicts, which is so wrong about our country’s current situation, where we openly celebrate the release of criminals walking free. Meantime, the Supreme Court Judgement is a victory for Bilkis and the case and we are all here standing for Bilkis.”
Aysha, a college student participating in the protest, expressed, “The government should not tolerate such crimes and take stringent action on crimes against women.”
Activists from 'Navu Yeddu Niladidare' Madhu Gosh (left), Jaya (Right)
Madhu Bhushan from ‘Navu Yeddu Niladidare campaign,’ noted, “According to media reports some of the convicts are requesting a time of six months to surrender, in six months anything could happen. The remission by the Gujarat Government was fraudulent. Bilkis Bano is still living in fear, she has still not come out in public, she has moved hundreds of houses. While these men are happily roaming around in their houses, what about Bilkis? Does she not deserve to live with freedom and security?”
Condemning convicts being felicitated by RSS activists, Madhu added, “The Government should have initiated action against it, what is the message that the government is trying to give ? This speaks clearly about the politics of this government which has allowed the garlanding and felicitation of the convicts,” she added.
Emphasizing the need to protect vulnerable and minority sections of society, Madhu Bhushan expressed displeasure with the religious politics prevailing in the current scenario.
Meanwhile, 77 year old Rosemary, remarked that “Justice is unequal, while some get justice some don't.” The protests were organized by under the ‘Navu Yeddu Niladidare’ campiagn, with more than 100 protestors gathering at the freedom park.
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Israel says rabbi who went missing in UAE was killed
Tel Aviv, Nov 24: Israel said Sunday that the body of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found after he was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”
The statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death.” There was no immediate comment from the UAE.
Zvi Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Thursday, ran a Kosher grocery store in the futuristic city of Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.
The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, after months of fighting with the Hezbollah group, have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the the UAE.
Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, has also been threatening to retaliate against Israel after a wave of airstrikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirati government did not respond to a request for comment.
Early Sunday, the UAE's state-run WAM news agency acknowledged Kogan's disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan. The Emirati Interior Ministry described Kogan as being “missing and out of contact.”
“Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report,” the Interior Ministry said.
Netanyahu told a regular Cabinet meeting later Sunday that he was “deeply shocked” by Kogan's disappearance and death. He said he appreciated the cooperation of the UAE in the investigation and said that ties between the two countries would continue to be strengthened.
Israel's largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for "their swift action." He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism based in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City. It said he was last seen in Dubai. The UAE has a burgeoning Jewish community, with synagogues and businesses catering to kosher diners.
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai's busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday. As the wars have roiled the region, the store has been the target of online protests by supporters of the Palestinians. Mezuzahs on the front and the back doors of the market appeared to have been ripped off when an Associated Press journalist stopped by on Sunday.
Kogan's wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The UAE is an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and is also home to Abu Dhabi. Local Jewish officials in the UAE declined to comment.
While the Israeli statement did not mention Iran, Iranian intelligence services have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.
Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country.
Iran is suspected of kidnapping and later killing British Iranian national Abbas Yazdi in Dubai in 2013, though Tehran has denied involvement. Iran also kidnapped Iranian German national Jamshid Sharmahd in 2020 from Dubai, taking him back to Tehran, where he was executed in October.
