Could the latest indication by the Human Rights Commission in occupied Kashmir, demanding re-opening of Kunanposhpora mass rape be reckoned as a good omen for the victims who had been waiting for justice for the last two decades? No I don't think so!
In the last two decades these victims have suffered the trauma of the assault. They have to face difficulty in performing their routine functioning, as they used to, after the assault, with disruption of concentration, sleeping patterns and eating habits. So what will the re-opening of this case means to the victims?
On this occasion one cannot fail to recollect the sad memories of the Kunanposhpora incident when the marauding Indian troops gang raped over 50 women in the remote sleepy village of Kunanposhpora in Kupwara district on the intervening night of February 23 and 24 in 1991. Approximately at 11 p.m. the troopers of 4-Rajputana Rifles cordoned off the village to conduct a search operation. The men were taken out from their houses and made to assemble in an open field for interrogation overnight. Once the men were taken away, the troops barged into the houses and gang raped women of all ages ranging from 13 to 80. The incident, the most heinous during the ongoing liberation struggle of Kashmiris, was reported by villagers to military authorities who not only refused to take any action but even denied the charges saying no such thing had happened at all. This proved that the lives of Kashmiri women had been exposed to all kind of trials and tribulation. Several inquires were launched into the Kunanposhpora incident, and if one looks at the history of these inquiries he finds that most of the committees found the truth but all the issue has been put in the cold storage since its occurrence.
On 5th March, 1991 the villagers complained to Kupwara district magistrate S.M. Yasin, who visited the village on 7th March to investigate the matter. In his final report, he stated that the troopers "behaved like wild beasts" and described the attack in these words, “A large number of armed personnel entered into the houses of villagers and at gunpoint they gang-raped women, without any consideration of their age, marital status, pregnancy etc… there was a hue and cry in the whole village.” He went on to say, “I found the villagers were harassed to the extreme possible extent. In the morning after 9 a.m. when the Army left, the village men folk were released and when they entered their houses, they were shocked to see that the Army personnel had gang raped their daughters, wives, sisters, etc. The armed forces had forcibly taken No Objection Certificate from the locals as well as from the local police after doing the illegal action… I feel ashamed to put in black and white what kind of atrocities and their magnitude was brought to my notice on the spot.”
Following the district magistrate's report, increased publicity about the incident led to strong denials from Indian military officials. On March 17, Mufti Baha-ud-Din Farooqi, Chief Justice of the High Court of occupied Kashmir, led a fact-finding mission to Kunanposhpora. Over the course of his investigation, he interviewed fifty-three women who were raped by the troopers, and tried to determine why a police investigation into the incident had never taken place. According to his report, villagers claimed that a police investigation into the event had never commenced because the officer assigned to the case, Assistant Superintendent Dilbaugh Singh, was on leave. Farooqi later stated that in his 43 years on the bench he "had never seen a case in which normal investigative procedures were ignored as they were in this one." Just a few months later, in July, 1991, Dilbaugh Singh was transferred to another station without ever having started the investigation.
In response to criticism of the Indian government's handling of the investigation, the army requested the Press Council of India to investigate the incident. The investigative team visited Kunanposhpora in June, more than three months after the incident. The team interviewed hospital officials who stated that one of the women who had been pregnant at the time of the assault had given birth to a child with a fractured arm just 4 days after the incident. She claimed that she had been kicked during the rapes; a pediatrician, who visited the village as part of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Basic Rights Committee, confirmed her story.
The Press Council team claimed that the fetus had been injured during delivery. Medical examinations conducted on 32 of the women between March 15 and 21, nearly one month after the incident, confirmed that the women had wounds on their chests and abdomens, and that the hymens of three of the unmarried women had been torn.
The team claimed "such a delayed medical examination proves nothing”.
The Press Council's dismissal of facts about the Kunanposhpora, and the manner in which it carried out its investigation were widely criticized. Human Rights Watch wrote, “While the results of the examinations by themselves could not prove the charges of rape, they raised serious questions about the army's actions in Kunanposhpora. Under the circumstances, the committee's eagerness to dismiss any evidence that might contradict the government's version of events is deeply disturbing. In the end, the committee has revealed itself to be far more concerned about countering domestic and international criticism than about uncovering the truth.”
Asia Watch in its 1991 report stated, "The alacrity with which military and government authorities in Kashmir discredited the allegations of rape and their failure to follow through with procedures that would provide critical evidence for any prosecution in particular prompt medical examinations of the rape victims raise serious concerns about the integrity of the investigation. Given evidence of a possible cover-up, both the official and the Press Council investigation fall far short of the measures necessary to establish the facts in the incident and determine culpability."
Even the US State Department, in its 1992 report on international human rights, rejected the Indian government's conclusion, and maintained that there "was credible evidence to support charges that an elite army unit engaged in mass rape in the Kashmiri village of Kunanposhpora."
So in the light of all these inquires and international response, nothing happened and one can recall the attitude of Indian authorities towards such gory incidents with the latest example the rape and murder of two women in Shopian town in 2009 in which the eventual inquiry dismissed all evidence altogether and the murder was turned into a case of drowning.
But now come to the latest chapter in Kunanposhpora episode, where the Human Rights Commission has demanded re-opening of the case besides demanding Rs 200,000 compensation for each victim.
Residents of Kunanposhpora have been living with social stigma for the past 20 years. After the incident many women who were married in other areas were divorced. Even today marriage proposals of the girls are turned down. Many girls have become overage and their chances of getting married are bleak.
So under all these circumstances what sort of result the inquiry will yield only God knows better. However, one thing is for certain that the victims only demand justice. But as per former British Prime Minister, William Gladstone (1809-1898) “justice delayed is justice denied” and in the incidence of Kunanposhpora victims of mass rape have suffered the trauma for the last two decades without any hope of justice from those in the higher echelons of power. So the answer is pretty clear they have been denied justice.
