The Hindu : Front Page : Cross-examination of Bilkis continues

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Saturday, Apr 09, 2005

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Front Page

Cross-examination of Bilkis continues

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, APRIL 8. Bilkis Yakub Rasul was grilled by the defence for the fourth day today. Defence counsel, Gopal Singh Solanki, who has been cross-examining Bilkis since yesterday, asked details about her entire family as well as relatives and their children.

Mr. Solanki shot questions about her statements to the Gujarat police and the `various contradictions and omissions' in them. She was asked about the route leading from her native village Randhikpur from where she had fled with a group of relatives to Panivela where they were attacked on March 3, 2002.

Mr. Solanki asked Bilkis about the direction they had taken, the distances between the various villages they had passed through, the locations of hills and ravines. Bilkis said since she had not visited the villages before the incident she did not know the direction or the distances.

Earlier this week, defence counsel S. K. Jain cross-examined Bilkis and asked her about the time she spent in the Godhra relief camp and who met her there. Bilkis stated that many persons had met her at the relief camp and asked about her well-being and she did not know all their names. She was also questioned about Maulana Umerji of Godhra, who has since been arrested under POTA. Mr. Jain asked her if he was present at a press conference she had addressed in Godhra. Bilkis, however, said she did not know him.

Mr. Jain also asked about activists Farah Naqvi and Huma Khan and if they had helped her file a writ petition in the Supreme Court. It was put to her that she had filed a false case at the behest of these women activists, NGOs and community leaders.

Bilkis, while denying this, said she herself filed the writ in the apex court. Many women activists had met her and she could not be certain about all their names.

She was asked about her claim for compensation from the Gujarat Government and how she had built her house in the Godhra resettlement colony. Bilkis said that only her husband could give these details.

Her cross-examination will continue on April 19.

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Cross-examination of Bilkis continues