Source: thehindu.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gujarat <\/strong>cadre IPS officer R.S. Bhagora, an accused in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case, was dismissed from service by the Union Home Ministry on May 30, a day before his retirement on May 31. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The 60-year-old officer was set to retire on May 31 and was serving as Deputy Commissioner of Police <\/strong>(Traffic) with the Ahmedabad police when his dismissal order came. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr.\n Bhagora was promoted to IPS from the State police service in 2009. His \ndismissal from the service means he would not get any post-retirement \nbenefits from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier in March this year, the \nSupreme Court had asked the Gujarat government to take disciplinary \naction against the erring police officials, including Mr. Bhagora, \nconvicted by the Bombay High Court for dereliction of duty in the Bilkis\n Bano gang-rape case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among\n the police officials, four \u2014 a deputy superintendent of police, two \ninspectors and a constable \u2014 have retired from service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Subsequently\n in April, the Supreme Court directed the Gujarat government to give \u20b950\n lakh as compensation, a government job with accommodation to Ms. Bano \nwho was gangraped in one of the worst mass murder cases in the 2002 \nGujarat riots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the post-Godhara communal riots in Gujarat,\n 14 members of Ms. Bilkis\u2019 family were killed, including her \ntwo-and-half-year old daughter who was snatched from her mother\u2019s arms \nand smashed on a rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case was handed over to the Central \nBureau of Investigation and trial was moved out of Gujarat to \nMaharashtra in the interests of justice by the Supreme Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A \nspecial court in Mumbai had awarded life sentence to 11 persons for \nraping Ms. Bano, who was five months pregnant at the time of the heinous\n crime. The trial court, however, acquitted five policemen, including \nMr. Bhagora, who were booked for dereliction of duty in the high-profile\n case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bombay High Court in 2017 reversed the lower court \norder and convicted the accused five policemen under Sections 218 (not \nperforming their duties) and 201 (tampering with evidence) of the Indian\n Penal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court on July 10, 2017 dismissed the \nappeals of Mr. Bhagora and the other policemen against the High Court \norder, stating there was \u201cclear-cut evidence\u201d against them.<\/p>\n Compensation fiat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n