EXCLUDING RAPE FOR GUJARAT RIOTS COMPENSATION FLAYED

August 8, 2004 - (IANS) Bilkis Yukoob Rasool, a gang rape victim of the 2002 Gujarat violence, Sunday flayed the government for not acknowledging sexual violence committed against women during the sectarian massacre.

"The state government refused to include sexual violence as an atrocity in the list for compensating riot victims," Bilkis said at a press conference here.
"This struggle is not for myself alone, but for hundreds of Muslim women in Gujarat who suffered sexual violence during the communal carnage and the state government did not even acknowledge their plight," Bilkis said.

She was brought here by New Delhi-based rights activist Farah Naqvi for the first time after the Supreme Court shifted her case out of Gujarat to the Bombay High Court Friday.

Bilkis, the only witness to the killing of eight people on Feb 28, 2002 in the jungles of Devgadhbaria in Panchmahal district of north Gujarat, alleged that police threatened her with dire consequences when she approached them with the complaint.

She claimed a mob killed her eight family members before her eyes and then raped her.

"When I approached Limkheda police station to lodge the complaint of murder and rape, police told me that if I persisted with my complaint they would give me a poisonous injection at the time of my medical examination," she alleged.

On the Supreme Court's decision to shift her case to Mumbai from Gujarat, Bilkis expressed hope for justice. "Now there is a hope for justice," she said.
Bilkis thanked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and rights activists for helping her win the transfer of the case out of Gujarat.

Naqvi, who is helping Bilkis in her case, said that the case was progressing well.

"After the Supreme Court's intervention the case is progressing well and investigation has given us ample evidence against the accused. Now we can definitely hope for justice," she told reporters.

The court had handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had filed a separate FIR January this year to reinvestigate the case.

The CBI has so far arrested 12 people, including six policemen, two BJP workers, and two government doctors in connection with the case.

From: http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=6603