Hydearab (PTI): The ruling BRS in Telangana has strongly denounced the BJP after a convict in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case shared the stage with the saffron party lawmakers during a government event in Gujarat.

In a tweet on Monday, BRS MLC Kavitha said, "Bilkis Bano Rapist openly shares stage with BJP’s MPs and MLAs. What have we become as a community that perpetrators of heinous crimes against women are being celebrated and given a platform while the victims plead for justice. India is watching!."

Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, brother of Kavitha, also found fault with the BJP on the matter.

"Welcome to #AmritKaal. Balatkaar Justification Party and it’s Brazen embrace of these rapists is a true reflection of their mindset," Rama Rao tweeted.

One of the convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape and murder of her family members case, freed last year under Gujarat’s remission policy, has shared the stage with BJP MP Jaswant Bhabhor and his MLA brother Shailesh Bhabhor at a government event held at Limkheda in Dahod district of the western state.