“I learnt about their release from the media,” the husband of Bilkis Bano, who was gang raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, said on Tuesday. The BJP government in the state on Monday released 11 convicts sentenced to life term for the rape and murder of her family. The decision contradicts a policy released by the Centre, also led by the BJP, which in June allowed release of convicted prisoners as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. However, special remission should not be granted to rape convicts, the policy states.

According to an NDTV report, the Centre’s policy also mentions that convicts serving life imprisonment or death sentence should not be granted special remission. Bilkis was 21-year-old and five months pregnant when the 11 men raped her, as she was fleeing the riots in 2002, and killed seven members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter.