Woman raped by distraught mob and left 'numbed' after 11 jailed men released

In 2002, a riot between Hindus and Muslims broke out, killing more than 1,000 people in Gujarat, India, an Indian-ruled state. country's current Prime Minister Narendra Modi becomes Chief Minister

An activist holds a placard during a protest against men's release in New Delhi yesterday (

Image: AFP via Getty Images

A mob that gang-raped a pregnant woman before slaughtering her three-year-old daughter and 13 other relatives has been released early - leaving their distraught victim 'numbed'.

During the Hindu-Muslim riots in India in 2002, 11 Hindu men stormed the home of Bilkis Bano near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India and carried out a gang sexual assault on the 19-year-old mother .

They then turned on Bano's mother and raped her before killing her baby girl.

In total, the twisted gang killed 14 of her family members, and she thinks the only reason she survived is because the gang thought she was dead.

The bodies of six of her relatives were never found, and she had to fight a long battle to get justice through the Indian justice system.

But the men, who were convicted in early 2008, were released from prison yesterday after just 15 years on a life sentence - triggering the sentencing of the victim, her husband and those responsible for opposition.

Bano and her husband were not notified of their release, she said, adding that the news had "numbed" them.

Bano says his family was not notified of their release (

Picture:

AFP via Getty Images)

She said through her lawyers, "Today I can only say this: How can justice for a woman end like this? I trusted the highest courts of our country. I trusted the system and was slowly learning to live with my trauma. The release of these convicts ended...