New Delhi, November 24, 2017 | UPDATED 12:10 IST
Bilkis Bano, who was 19 and pregnant in 2002, was gangraped in Randhikpur village near Dahod on March 3, 2002, after she and around a dozen family members were attacked by a mob during the Gujarat riots.
Bilkis Bano (File photo: PTI)The Supreme Court today gave the Gujarat government six weeks to let it know whether any disciplinary action has been initiated against policemen who were convicted in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, one of the high profile 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
Bano, who was 19 and pregnant in 2002, was gangraped in Randhikpur village near Dahod on March 3, 2002, after she and around a dozen family members were attacked by a mob during the Gujarat riots.
Only Bano and relatives Saddam and Husain survived the savagery. Her mother, sister, minor daughter and other relatives were killed.
Bano is seeking compensation and disciplinary action from the Supreme Court against the six police officials, who were found complicit by the Bombay High Court in her gangrape.
She had asked for an early hearing. As the Gujarat government sought yet more time, her lawyer asked: "In the age of Digital India, why does the state government need so long to file a response?"
On October 23, the Supreme Court had sought within four weeks a response from the Gujarat government to the departmental action taken against police personnel convicted in the gangrape 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.
The matter will be next heard on January 1.
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