I want to suck their blood but how can I do it?
If you give me training I will kill the men who raped me.
Shaila, 22, resident of Pazipora
Whenever I see an army man now I feel like jumping into a grave.
Rabia, 29, resident of Kupwara
These’re the bitter, angry outbursts of Kashmiri women who have been sexually assaulted. Ironically enough, by the keepers of law and order the Indian Army and security forces, stationed in the Valley since January this year to curb the growing militancy.
Today, the sight of a man in uniform both infuriates and frightens them. While villages in the interior have witnessed the highest number of rapes, those close to civilisation have not been spared either. Three unmarried sisters from a well-respected family in Lal Bazar, a downtown area of Srinagar, were carried off to the cantonment and released after two nights of sexual assault.
More than anywhere else, the number of atrocities have reached alarming proportions in army infested Kupwara, a thickly forested, mountainous district 90 kilometers north of Srinagar, earlier famed only for the beauty of its Lolab valley. Young girls in the scenic Tregham village (the hometown of Maqbool Bhatt, founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front) were dragged inside their homes alone and subjected to various forms of physical torture from blows with belts and rifle butts to electric shocks. Eighteen told Mumtaz of Tangwara mohalla had the flesh of her cheek gouged out, her clothes stripped off and it is uncertain whether she escaped rape. For she was withdrawn into herself. Frightened out of their wits, families from this mohalla hurriedly migrated to a remote village and have just returned to their homes after four months.
In far off Ledervan, an 18yrold girl was hanged upside down from a tree during interrogation and given a succession of electric shocks, rendering her unconscious, when she came to her senses, she was beaten. Today, she is almost insane. Near Chokibal, another serene village in Kupwara, a couple was arrested and taken to an army camp where the husband was tied to a tree while his wife was raped by jawans. Helpless as he was, he is engulfed by a murderous rage today.
Twenty five kilometers from the IndoPak border is idyllic Balli Pora, far removed from civilisation. The 40 families there lived a life of plenty. But on August 10, their rustic bliss was shattered. On that fateful day. 12 women from neighboring Pazipora came in running, hotly pursued by dozens of ruthless army jawans. Beating the males with rifle butts, the jawans forced them to leave. After that, they made all the women line up for inspection and pulled aside the youngest and prettiest of the lot. Recounts 50yrold Saja, whose wrinkled face still bears bluish scars under the eyes, “Eight to 10 men would fall upon one woman, tear off her clothes, strip her naked and make her walk. They beat me on my head and under my eyes with rifle butts, but I didn’t allow my two unmarried daughters to be raped.”
But not all the women had a Saja to defend them. Half of them were dragged to the fields, while the rest were carried into a dirty cowshed. Then, each was raped by nine or 10 men. One of them was pinned down in a field for as long as three hours, her bloodstained salwar later set on fire by the jawans. Twenty six year old Saba, another victim, sits huddled in a dingy hut in Pazipora with tears running down her cheeks.
“I want to kill myself,” she cries in a voice choked with emotion. Both her husband and brother-in-law were shot dead by the army shortly before she was raped.
‘When the women fled their village, the residents of Ballipora came to their aid, lending them clothes and providing them shelter for the night. They returned to their village the next day.
Sixteen yr old Ruksana with her plump pink cheeks, expressive hazel eyes and curly brown hair is still stunned by her experience. Though she was lucky to escape from the clutches of the army four times when they came on raids asking for the 12 girls who they claimed had received training in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK),luck abandoned her when, one morning, she was whisked away from her uncle’s compound in Ballipora by four uniformed jawans. Taking her to a paddy field, three men stood behind her and held her flailing arms, while the other stood in front, tore her embroidered phitan down the front, and wrenched off her salwar. “I was totally overpowered,” she remarks dully. While two of them held her arms and two others her legs, they were joined by three others and all of them raped her. They held her captive for two hours. Unable to bear the pain and indignity of it all, Ruksana finally lost consciousness. Hours later, her aunt Saja discovered her and carried her home. Physically, it took her 15 days to get back to normal. Psychologically, she is still a wreck. Her voice breaks down as she relieves the trauma she went through, lips quivering uncontrollably as she mutters, “Whenever somebody mentions the army, I become abnormal have palpitations. In fact, I almost lose consciousness.”
A doctor in the Kupwara district hospital corroborates that the five women who were brought to her from Pazipora were all definitely victims of rape. She also holds that although these particular cases had been registered by the police, many go unregistered as the victim and her family try to keep it secret. Rape, after all, is still a great social stigma. But often, doctors and police in the Valley are too scared to pursue cases, she herself has yet to prepare the reports of the victims she examined. She remarks, “I heard of one virgin who had lots of bleeding, developed kidney trouble and had to be referred to a hospital in Srinagar. She died there, but nobody did anything.”
Mumtaz Wani, an advocate who has been investigating the cases in Kupwara, discloses that the SHO in Velgam police station (under whose jurisdiction Pazipora comes) has recorded the statements and registered the cases of eight victims under section 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code. But now, alleges Wani, “he is under pressure from the SP and the army to close the cases. To date, he has sustained the pressure, but is not in a position to investigate the cases.”
In dirty Kupwara town, 26yrold Rabia crouches in a dingy bedcumsitting room, breastfeeding her child. There are dark pouches under her grey eyes; she has a vacant expression on her face. With her unshaven husband standing by sympathetically, she mechanically recounts the events of that dreadful day last month when army jawans stormed their house.
There had been rapid cross firing the night before and at Sam that morning, there was an army crackdown in Kupwara. Her husband and brother, like all other males in the locality, were rounded up and marched to the Chowk. Catching her alone, three jawans snatched her baby out of her arms and knocked her to the ground with their rifle butts. They then gagged her with one of her own phirans, tore her kurta and raped her. One of them even pressed his foot down on her child’s chest so that he could not cry out while they were unleashing their passion. This carried on for an hour, after which she fainted. She is still under gynecological treatment for the wounds which had been inflicted in her genital region.
Tender, innocent Zulekha, 16, a resident of Shali Bhata in Kupwara, was walking with her mother on the morning of August 10, when she was suddenly snatched by some jawans, taken to the forest and raped, while her mother was taken into custody, Late in the evening, one of the villagers stumbled upon her bleeding and unconscious form. He brought her home, but it was too late. She died that night.
Leading Srinagar advocate Zafar Shah, who is also a member of the Bar Association which i investigating atrocities in the Val ley, describes the difficulties the: face even in getting a case registered. “We try to do so wherever we find a man of conscience. Bu since the state police department I under eclipse and the army has been given more power, a police man is scared of displeasing them.
The people of Wadman, a picture book village in Badgam district, 20(kilometers from Srinagar, have similar tale to tell. A convoy of 100 army vehicles drew in at dawn and wreaked havoc on the lives 0 the peaceful farmers there. Man; women in the village were molested in their homes while their husbands were ordered to assemble in the mosque. However, no case has been registered so far says D L Trisal, district commissioner of Badga, “I received some complaints that women had been harmed in seven or eight house: during an ambush and that the forces had misbehaved. I approached the additional chief secretary (home) and an inquiry was instituted by the police.” How far has the inquiry reached? Trisal admits with refreshing can dour, “I have no idea. As the district magistrate and commissioner, I should get feedback from the police. But all communication between us has been paralyses.”
Given this deplorable state of affairs, it is hardly surprising that at present, only four rape cases and two attempts to rape are being investigated by the authorities, according to the director general of police, J N Saksena. To date not a single case has been placed before a court of law.
But of all the cases under investigation, action has been taken only on the most highly publicised one the case of the bride Mubina in Anantnage. In May this year, the bride was traveling by bus with her husband and the marriage party of 27 persons. The bus was fired upon and stopped near Badasgam village in Islamabad district at 11.30 am by a BSF patrolling party. The bride was kidnaped by the jawans, gang raped and released after 48 hours. The has less girl had to undergo medical treatment in the district hospital of Anantnag. Gynecologist Dr Masood a Jan examined her and prepared a medical report on May 18 which proves that she was raped. Four jawans of the BSF have accordingly been suspended after investigations. No further action has been taken so far.
Similarly, in a rape case in Pulwama district, a junior commanding officer has been demoted and the authorities
“Plan” to take action against three others. No one has been imprisoned. Another case has been referred to the forensic laboratory. But the stumbling block in all these cases is that in order to conclusively establish a case of rape it is essential for the complainant to appear before the court of inquiry. But the security forces have two options: to appear before a civil court or a court martial, and most cases have been transferred to the army authorities.
“Under these circumstances,’ comments Shah with a wry grimace, “which poor, literate Kashmiri will be able to depose before a court martial? She will be afraid that the authorities will repeat the crime.’
Even in cases where the girl might appear for a trial, people are skeptical about the outcome, feeling “the armed forces are deliberately trying to create sense of fear in the minds of people through atrocities so that they give up the demand for a plebiscite.” The director general of police, J N Saksena, however, contradicts this.
The victims doubt if justice will ever be dispensed. For, as one of them remarks bitterly, “They will not allow their forces to face trial because this will lower the morale of the entire force.” Judging by the snaillike pace at which investigations proceed, it certainly appears SO.
Even though Jammu and Kashmir Governor Girish Saxena professes sympathy, he claims, “In a large scale action spread over six districts where tens of thousands of people are functioning, things like this can happen. But I’m aware of the great responsibility on us to see that excesses do not take place. Wherever there is some excess, we take notice, institute inquiries and deal with those who grossly exceed their powers.”
The rise in the number of rape cases in Kashmir has dangerous Repercussions. It is breeding more militancy and alienating the populace further. Ever since the first Tape case in Chhanpura six months ago, it is said that the militants began taking a new vowHamare behan ke tapakte aansoon ke kasam. Women too are up in arms, aching to take revenge. Screams a victim, “Hum chup nahin baithenge.” Women activists’ have begun imparting training to girls in the use of knives and boomerangs, urging them to aim for a jawans neck or stomach if he attempts to molest them.
One serious fallout of this is that those who were mildly antiIndian have now turned against India, even emotionally, because of what is happening to their womenfolk. As Shah aptly puts it, “If you have economic hardships, you can beg, borrow and survive. But if you are going through emotional trauma, you cannot take it. So now, when the man fights, he fights with a vengeance.”
Article extracted from this publication >> November 9, 1990
