SC Orders Gujarat Govt to Pay 50 Lakh Compensation and Job to Gang-rape Victim Bilkis Bano in 2002 Riots

New Delhi, September 30, 2019:

Supreme Court has ordered the government of Gujarat to provide a job and compensate gang-rape victim Bilkis Bano with Rs. 50 lakhs.

Bano was a victim of gang-rape during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The gruesome incident happened in Randhikpur village in Gujarat’s Dahod district.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, has ordered the state government to release the compensation within two weeks of the order. It also directed to provide her with a government job and accommodation within the stipulated time.

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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the state government, had sought a review of the Court’s April order which had directed to pay the said amount as compensation to the now 40-year-old.

However, the Supreme Court said that the order was given on the basis of specific facts and circumstances in the particular case. It said that the order would not be a precedent.

Bilkis Bano was 19-year-old when she was gang-raped during the 2002 Gujarat riots. 14 people, including four women and four children, were killed in the riots. Bano had survived the brutality of the gang-rape and had been living with the support of NGOs.

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On May 4, 2017, seven people were convicted in the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. Among them were policemen and doctors.

Taking note of the delay, the Supreme Court today has asked the state government to fasten the process and provide the 50 lakh compensation to Bano within two weeks.

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