Tommy Hilfiger

Even as the Dahod SP gave a positive opinion regarding the release of 10 of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, records show that two of the convicts – Ramesh Chandana, 58, and Mitesh Bhatt, 57 – had offences registered against them during their tenure of imprisonment. Mitesh, for instance, was accused of assaulting a woman with the intention of outraging her modesty. At the time of giving his opinion on Mitesh’s early release on May 25, 2022, Balram Meena, the then SP of Dahod, in his letter addressed to Dahod district collector Harshit Gosavi, had noted that an offence was registered against Mitesh at the Randhikpur police station pertaining to an incident of June 19, 2020. The letter stated that the FIR was lodged under Sections 354 (Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (2) (aggravated criminal intimidation) and 114 (abetment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Also Read |#ExpressView | Alibi is stripped: So the Centre cleared release of Bilkis Bano rape-murder convicts. If it brazens it out, SC must reprise its role