Supreme Court today directed West Bengal government to give five lakh rupees as compensation in addition to already sanctioned 50,000 rupees to the 20-year-old victim of Birbhum gangrape incident.A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, S A Bobde and N V Ramana also said the state government failed to protect the fundamental right of the victim.

The bench said, all states are duty bound to protect the rights of women and that they have freedom of choice in marriage. The bench had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident on January 24 and had directed the district judge to file a report.

The victim and her paramour were caught, tied to a tree and assaulted after which they were asked to pay a fine of 50,000 rupees. The gangrape took place after the girl expressed her inability to pay the amount. All the accused, including the village head, have been arrested.