By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net,
Sri Nagar: On the intervening night of 22-23 February 1991, 68th Brigade of the Fourth Rajputana Rifles, entered in Kunan Poshpora, the twin villages of Kupwara District in Northern Kashmir, with an intention to cordon and search operation, also known as crackdowns which were common practices in those days in Kashmir.
The sounds of Jackboots of Indian army were audible in the air. All men were herded to a nearest field, whereas women were asked to remain indoors and a house was identified to be used as interrogation centre. In the dead of Night, inhumane nature of humanity began to reveal itself with cluster of monsters in human shape entering the houses and raping the women mercilessly. Virgins, married, and old women as per authentic reports washed hands off their chastity. From a teenage girl to a 80 year old woman, no one was spared.
(Photo courtesy: Bilal Bahadur)
A woman who had a baby in womb was raped too. Mothers were raped in front of their small children who looked on crying in horror while they were raped by the men in uniform. The whole village froze on next morning, not because it was cold but due to the nature of the heinous crime which infected villagers with dead silence yet loud mourning. They wandered like madmen, crying on top of their voice still shaken up by the jolt to think of anything about their next step.
On 25/26 February, villagers sent letter to Deputy Commissioner of Kupwara and police authorities regarding the rape and torture. After receiving the letter dated 25/26 February and protest on the part of villagers of Kunan and Poshpora, Deputy Commissioner Kupawara visited the village for Enquiry and informed the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir and other authorities, including the local police via letter dated 7th march, 1991, regarding the incident. Upon receiving this letter, the Trehgam Police Station registered FIR under section 376, 452 and 342 RPC.
It is to be noted here that the incident took place on 23/24 February 1991 but the FIR was registered few days later. The delay obviously happened because of the long course of ‘sending and receiving letters’ and the investigation followed by it. Moreover, the army personnel did leave the village but had surrounded the village for 3-4 days for obvious reasons. On March 19th, a UK based newspaper ‘The Independent’ carried a report titled, ‘Indian villages tell of mass rape by soldiers’ , based on narratives the reporters had heard in Kunan Poshpora, which was followed by a New York Times report on 7 April 1991 mentioning the Kunan-Poshpora rape incident under the headline, “India Moves Against Kashmir Rebels.”
With global attention hovering over the incident, a three member team setup by the Press Council of India headed by B.G. Varghese was formed and included K.Vikram Rao and Jamnadas Akhtar to investigate the allegations from Kunan and Poshpora. The controversial report submitted by the Press Council of India termed the charges as hoax and further went out to state that the allegation were a part a psychological warfare that was being adopted to malign the image of the Indian army and to bring forward yet again the Kashmir issue in front of the world but as a human right issue.
(Photo courtesy: Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
In a report, ‘Crisis and Credibility’, published by the Press Council of India, they dismissed all the allegations against Armed forces made till date very sophistically yet absurdly. Consequently on 23rd September 1991, the Director Prosecution informed that the case was ‘un-fit’ for launching criminal prosecution. Therefore on October 21, 1991 the case was ‘’closed as untraced’’ by the police.
However, in its 1992 report on international human rights, the United States Department of State rejected the Indian government’s conclusion, saying there was “credible evidence to support charges that an elite army unit engaged in mass-rape in Kunan- Poshpora.”
On Going Battle
For the villagers of Kunan Poshpora, the injustices of 1991 have been compounded over the years. During a visit to Kashmir in June 2013, former Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid made a remark on Kunan-Poshpora incident. Referring to accusations of the mass rape, Khurshid told the media, “I am ashamed that [it] happened in my country.”
The rape victims have been longing since that tragic day for the justice but nothing has happened till date. For some time in the just years after this tragedy came about this case had the momentum and people were vibrant to make the efforts for the deliverance of justice. But with the unfolding of more and more tragedies here in valley this case lost the momentum and now is a faint memory in most of minds except the minds of victims.
In 2007, some victims of the mass rape knocked the SHRC and the Commission in 2012 recommended re- investigation, payment of Rs 2 lakh as ex-gratia to victims and action against then Director Prosecution for closing the case in 1991 as untraced. The case was re-opened in March 2013 when 50 women filed a Public Interest Litigation in the court demanding justice. They achieved their first major success when Jammu and Kashmir high court directed the state government to explore the possibilities of paying compensation to the affected women.
(Photo courtesy: Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
But Government of Jammu and Kashmir approached the Supreme Court against the High Court orders directing payment of compensation. The worse was yet to follow when on 15 January 2015; High court of J&K in a petition filed by the Indian army ordered a stay on on-going investigations in Kunan Poshpora mass rape case.
In this prolonged battle, the deliberate deployment of a counter-narrative to throttle their voices, delaying tactics continue to be used to stymie justice. Twenty-Four years on, they still wait for Justice which is yet to be delivered.