New Delhi, Nov. 30 -- Months after her rapists were freed from jail, Bilkis Bano on Tuesday challenged the release of the 11 convicts in the Supreme Court, media reports said.

The 11 men convicted of gangraping Bilkis Bano during a communal clash in 2002 were released as they had been in jail for 14 years and their behaviour was found to be good, the Gujarat Government told the Supreme Court.

The release of the convicts has triggered a political firestorm with the Opposition slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules Gujarat, and its supreme leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had stressed women's issues in his customary Independence Day speech.

A group linked to the BJP was also seen garlanding the convicts when they ...