SHRC asks Govt to reopen Kupwara mass rape investigation

‘Prosecute Dir Prosecution (then DGP); Pay Rs 2 Lakh to each victim’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Oct 19: In a significant development, Jammu & Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has asked the state government to conduct fresh investigation into the infamous Kunan Poshpora mass rape of 1991. The Commission also directed the government to prosecute then Director of Prosecution for not holding the accused accountable by law and closing the investigation with the claim that the victims were “not traceable”.

While disposing a petition, the SHRC bench comprising Chairman Mr Justice (retd) Syed Bashiruddin and Member Mr Javed Ahmad Kawoosa, today directed the state government to constitute a Special Investigating Team (SIT), headed by an officer of the rank of SP, and conduct the investigation into the alleged mass rape of a number of women at Kunan Poshpora, Kupwara, afresh.

The petition had been filed by a group of 23 women, all residents of Kunan Poshpora, with the complaint that the matter had not been investigated and the guilty had not been prosecuted or punished. After eight sittings of hearing, the SHRC disposed the petition here today. The bench desired that the investigation be conducted afresh in the light of the report of then District Magistrate and DC of Kupwara (Syed Mohammad Yasin Shah). It was pointed out that the DM had submitted his report on the basis of medical examinations conducted on the complainants. “The troops behaved like wild beasts”, DC Kupwara had mentioned in his report.

The SHRC bench directed the government to hold an inquiry into the conduct of then Director General of Police, Mr B S Bedi, who later retired on a senior position in the central paramilitary forces, and investigate as to how the senior IPS officer as then Director of Prosecution in the state Home Department had ordered closure of the investigation on the ground that the alleged victims were “not traceable”. In yet another direction, the bench asked the government to pay compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of the complainant women as victims of the mass rape.

According to the allegations leveled against Army by the villagers, troops of 4-Rajputana Rifles committed mass rape over a large number of women during a cordon-and-search operation after they were separated from the men on the night intervening February 23^rd and 24^th. Residents approached the local Army commanders with their first complaint on the incident on February 27^th. Not satisfied with the troops’ conduct, the villagers later submitted the complaint to then Deputy Commissioner of Kupwara, Syed Mohammad Yasin Shah, on March 5^th.

In his report to Governor Girish Chander Saxena’s administration, DC Kupwara demanded a thorough investigation into the “serious allegations of mass rape”. While the Police failed to investigate on account of the “absence” of then Additional SP of Kupwara, Mr Dilbagh Singh, Army launched its own investigation. In a few weeks, Army dismissed all the allegations as “baseless”. It claimed that troops had not moved out of their local camps in connection with any cordon-and-search operation on that particular night.

Then DGP, B S Bedi, claimed at a news conference at Police Control Room Srinagar that the charges of mass rape had not been established. On the same day, then Governor Girish Chander Saxena appeared on Doordarshan with the announcement that Army had conducted its own investigation into the allegations leveled by the complainants and found these to be “without substance”.

Following DM’s report, increased publicity about the incident led to strong denials from Army. On March 17, Mufti Baha-ud-Din Farooqi, then Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, led a fact-finding mission to Kunan Poshpora. Over the course of his investigation, he interviewed fifty-three women complainants who claimed to have been raped by the soldiers.

According to Mufti Bahauddin’s 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. Mufti 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.".

On March 18, then Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Wajahat Habibullah, visited the village, and filed a confidential report, parts of which were later released to the public. He concluded:

"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… 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."

In response to criticism of the government's handling of the investigation, the army requested the Press Council of India to investigate the incident. The investigative team, that included veteran journalist B G Verghese, visited Kunan Poshpora in June 1991.

Upon interviewing a number of the alleged victims, the team claimed that contradictions in their testimony rendered their allegations of rape "baseless." The team interviewed hospital officials who stated that one of the women who had been pregnant at the time of the incident had given birth to a child with a fractured arm just 4 days afterwards. 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 foetus 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 that "such a delayed medical examination proves nothing" and that the medical findings were typical among villagers.

Ultimately, 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 sympathizers and mentors in Kashmir and abroad...for reinscribing Kashmir on the international agenda as a human rights issue.

The Press Council's dismissal of all the Kunan Poshpora allegation, 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 Kunan Poshpora. 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 alleged 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."

The United States Department of State, in its 1992 report on international human rights, rejected the Indian government's conclusion, and determined that there was "credible evidence to support charges that an elite army unit engaged in mass rape in the Kashmiri village of Kunan Poshpora."

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