Kunan poshpora mass rape case

Habibullah breaks silence: Govt deleted key portions of my report on J&K mass rape case

Wajahat Habibullah, chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, has said that the government "deleted important portions of his confidential report" on the Kunan poshpora mass rape case in which he had recommended a police probe, upgradation in the level of investigation, entrusting the case to a gazetted police officer and seeking an order from the 15 Corps Commander to ensure Army cooperation in the probe, reprts Muzamil Jaleel on Indian Express.

Habibullah was Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir when troops of 4 Raj Rifles allegedly raped 23 women in the village during a cordon-and-search operation on the night of February 23-24, 1991. The government used his report to give a clean chit to the Army.

More than two decades later, the mass rape case reared its head again last month after a Judicial Magistrate in Kupwara refused to entertain a police case closure report and ordered "further investigation by an officer not below the rank of a Senior Superintendent of Police" and its completion within three months.

"The Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara had received reports from the villagers of Konan that a mass rape had been committed in the village on the night of 23/24 February during cordon-and-search operations conducted by elements of the 4 Raj Rifles. He (Deputy Commissioner) had visited the spot on 5th March and according to his preliminary investigations, it appeared to him prima facie that an offence of monstrous proportions had been committed,'' Habibullah's confidential report stated.

"Consequently, on being approached by the DG, Police, J&K, the Corps Commander deputed Brigadier H K Sharma, Commander 19 Arty Brigade, to visit the village and report. The Brigadier made some local enquiries on 10/3 and came to the conclusion that the report (of mass rape) was baseless. His report does not, however, discuss in detail why he has altogether dismissed the statements made before him by a number of village women," the report stated.

Kunan-Poshpora gang rape

Kashmir Human Rights asks Govt to reinvestigate Kunan-Poshpora gang rape case

Srinagar, Nov 6: : The JK Human Rights Commission (JKHRC) Wednesday asked the State government to start a fresh probe into the case relating to the alleged mass gang rape of women by army personnel in Kunan and Poshpora villages of Kupwara district 20 ago.

Announcing its recommendations on the case, a division bench of JKHRC asked the state government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reinvestigate the alleged mass gang rape of at least 31 women by army personnel in 1991.

Dozens of women from Kunan and Poshpora villages, around 110 km from here, had claimed that they were gang raped by army troopers during the intervening night of February 23 and 24 in 1991, leading to outrage across Kashmir.

"The SIT should be headed by an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police," the bench comprising JKHRC Chairman Justice (retd) Syed Bashiruddin Ahmad and Javaid Kawoos said.

It also asked the state government to prosecute the the then Director Prosecution who had sought closure of the case as the perpetrators were "untraceable".

"The then Director Prosecution had overstepped his brief...prosecution proceedings should be initiated against him and those officers who had approved his report," the JKHRC bench recommended.

Reading out from the report of the then district magistrate, Kawoos said 31 women, who claimed to have been victims of gangrape, had been sent for medical examination, which confirmed that they were subjected to atrocities.

"In the course of hearing the case, statements of 18 women were recorded and during which they testified that they were subjected to the atrocity," he said.

The Commission asked the state government to pay compensation of Rs two lakh each to the victims of the incident.

The then Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Wajahat Habibullah, who visited the villages following the allegations, had filed a confidential report in the same year about the incident.

"While the veracity of the complaint is highly doubtful, it still needs to be determined why such complaint was made at all. The people of the village are simple folk and by the army's own admission have been generally helpful and even careful of security of the army's officers," a part of Habibullah's report, released later, read.

"Unlike Brig Sharma, I found many of the village women genuinely angry... It is recommended that the level of investigation be upgraded to that of a gazetted police officer," it said.

In response to the criticism of the government's handling of the investigation, the army had requested the Press Council of India to investigate the incident.

The Press Council team, which visited Kashmir in June that year, claimed that "such a delayed medical examination proves nothing" and that the medical findings were typical among villagers.

The team concluded that the charges against the army were "well-concocted bundle of fabricated lies" and "a massive hoax orchestrated by militant groups and their sympathisers and mentors in Kashmir and abroad".