SC seeks Gujarat's response in Bilkis Bano case's cop convicts

The Supreme Court on Monday sought within four weeks the Gujarat government's response to the departmental action taken against police personnel convicted in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and their subsequent reinstatement.

Petitioner Bilkis Yakub Rasool alleged that policemen convicted by the Bombay High Court in her case, which was reported during the 2002 Gujarat riots, have been reinstated by the state government.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud also told the petitioner to move a separate plea for enhancement of compensation granted to her.

Bano, then 19 years old and pregnant, was gang-raped in Randhikpur village near Dahod on March 3, 2002, after she and around a dozen family members were attacked by a mob.

Only Bilkis Bano and relatives Saddam and Husain survived the savagery. Her mother, sister, minor daughter and other relatives were killed.

--IANS

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