- Pay Rs 50 lakh to Bilkis Bano in 15 days: SC
- Provide her job and house, too
- Rioters killed 14 members of her family in 2002
- Five-months pregnant, she was gang-raped.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Gujarat Government to pay within two weeks a compensation of Rs. 50 lakh, a job and accommodation to a Muslim woman, Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped during the 2002 riots.
The apex court also turned down a State Government plea to reconsider its April order which made the same recommendations. The government argued that Gujarat already had a compensation scheme. But the top court said the State Government did not implement its earlier orders.
On March 3, 2002, 14 members of Bilkis Bano’s family were killed by a mob at Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad and she was gang-raped, although she was five-months pregnant. Those killed included her two-and-half-year old daughter who was snatched from her mother’s arms and smashed on a rock.
A special court had on January 21, 2008, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment 11 men for raping the woman and murdering seven of her family members, while acquitting seven persons, including the policemen and doctors.
The Gujarat High Court, on May 4, 2017, convicted seven people—five policemen and two doctors—under charges of not performing their duties and tampering of evidence.
The top court had on July 10, 2017, dismissed appeals of two doctors and four policemen, including an IPS officer, R S Bhagora, challenging their conviction by the High Court, saying there was “clear-cut evidence” against them. One of the officers did not appeal.
