…Bilkis regains her faith in the judiciary

Addressing a press meet here, Bilkis said she was fighting not only to secure justice for herself but ‘‘also for the many women who were raped and sexually assaulted in the state post-Godhra’’.

Lashing out at the Gujarat government, she said that two years after Godhra, it had failed to do justice to riot victims. ‘‘The Gujarat government should realise our pain,’’ she added.

Bilkis lost 14 members of her family, including her three-and-half-year old daughter, in an attack by a mob in Randhikpur when they were attempting to flee to safety. She filed an FIR but her case was closed by Dahod police, stating that there was no evidence against the accused.

Bilkis later approached the NHRC, which in turn approached the Supreme Court, pointing out inconsistencies in the investigation and sought a reinvestigation into the case by the CBI. The agency then arrested six Gujarat policemen for allegedly colluding with rioters and illegally disposing of the bodies of her family members. ‘‘Since the NHRC took up my case, I and my family members have been getting threats from the accused,’’ Bilkis said.