Supreme Court asks Gujarat govt to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to Bilkis Bano

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Gujarat government to pay a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to 2002 Gujarat gang-rape victim, Bilkis Bano.

Bano had also sought exemplary compensation from the State government, refusing to accept its offer of Rs5 lakh.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Deepak Gupta, passed the interim direction and asked the Gujarat government to pay the compensation to Bano.

The top court also directed the state government to provide Bilkis Bano a government job and accommodation as per rules.

In March 2002, Bano was gang-raped and left to die alongside 14 members of her family, including her 3-year-old daughter, during the Gujarat riots. She was five months pregnant, when rioters attacked her in Vadodara.

-ANI