6 Months After SC Order, Gang-Rape Survivor Bilkis Bano Yet To Get Rs 50 Lakh From Gujarat Govt
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi-headed bench has also directed the state government to provide Bilkis Bano with a job and accommodation. It has kept the time limit of two weeks for accomodation and job too.
India¡¯s Supreme Court has ordered the Gujarat government on Monday to pay a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano within a period of two weeks. The top court declined to reconsider its decision.
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi-headed bench has also directed the state government to provide Bilkis Bano with a job and accommodation. It has kept the time limit of two weeks for accommodation and job too.
Gujarat gang-rape survivor Bilkis Yakub Rasool Bano with her husband during a press conference at Press Club of India in New Delhi. FILE PHOTO BCCL
The Gujarat government had through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the state government, submitted before the bench that they sought to seek a review of the April order by Supreme Court.
Mr Mehta responded to a contempt plea filed by Bilkis Bano, saying that the order had not been complied with because the state government wanted the court to reconsider.
"We make it clear that our order was in view of the particular facts and will not be a precedent. Now you pay her the compensation within two weeks. We are giving you two weeks although you may not even need that much time," said the court.
The Gujarat government has agreed to give Bilkis Bano Rs 50 lakh, a job and a house after the Supreme Court added a clarification to its April order.
It clearly establishes that the Supreme Court had ordered compensation to Bilkis Bano in light of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.
The Supreme Court had in April this year ordered the Gujarat government to provide Bilkis Bano with a job and accommodation apart from Rs 50 lakh. The top court had observed that she had lived a nomadic life for 17 years since her gangrape in March 2002.
