Bilkis Bano case: Supreme Court directs Gujarat govt to pay Rs 50 lakh to rape survivor within two weeks

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Gujarat government in the Bilkis Bano rape case and directed it to pay an enhanced compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the gangrape survivor within two weeks. The apex court also ordered the state government to provide accommodation and a government job to Bilkis Bano, who was raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots, as per rules. Earlier in March, the state government had offered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to her but she refused it seeking “exemplary compensation”.

During the 2002 Gujarat riots, a pregnant Bilkis Bano was gang-raped while she was trying to flee from her Randhikpur village in an attempt to avoid the backlash of the Godhra train burning in Gujarat. 14 members of her family, including her 3-year-old daughter, were killed in the violent riots.

In 2008, 11 men were convicted in the rape case and sentenced to life imprisonment while five police officers and two government doctors were acquitted as the trial court gave them benefit of doubt. Later in 2017, the Bombay High Court had upheld the life imprisonment of the convicts and set aside the acquittal of the seven people, the five police officers and two doctors