New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Gujarat government to give Rs50 lakh compensation, a job and accommodation to Bilkis Bano — a survivor of the 2002 riots in the state.

Bano had earlier refused to accept the offer of Rs 5 lakh and had sought exemplary compensation from the state government in a plea before the top court.

Who is Bano?

Bano was a resident of a village in Dahod. She and her family were attacked on March 3, 2002, at Randhikpur village near Ahmedabad. Fourteen members of her family were slaughtered, and she was raped 22 times. She survived because her preparator left her thinking she is dead.

Bano was pregnant when the horrid incident happened. Since then, she has been living a nomadic life.

Supreme Court’s action

The Gujarat government informed a bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi that action has been taken against the erring police officials in the case.

A bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna was informed by the state's counsel that pension benefits of the erring officials had been stopped and the IPS officer who was convicted was demoted two ranks by the Bombay High Court in the case.

The top court had earlier asked the Gujarat government to take disciplinary action in two weeks against the erring police officials, including an IPS officer, convicted by the Bombay High Court in the case.

A special court had on January 21, 2008, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment 11 men for raping Bano and murdering seven of her family members in the aftermath of the Godhra riots, while acquitting seven persons including the policemen and doctors.

With inputs from PTI