RAPE AND MURDER IN SHOPIAN

RAPE AND MURDER IN SHOPIAN

Newsletter May-Aug 2009

For weeks now, Shopian, Kashmir has been in the news following the kidnap, rape and murder of two young women - Neelofar Jan (22) and Asiya Jan (17), on 29 May 2009, allegedly by security forces. Following this incident and the shocking reaction of the state, the valley has been burning. Instead of speaking out against the violence and taking speedy and firm steps to bring the perpetrators to book, the State and the new administration, first denied rape of women and then attempted to justify it by saying that women went there on their own and their murder was an accident or suicide.

In a joint press statement issued with several other women’s groups and individuals in Delhi including Stree Adhikar Sangathan, Nirantar, Jagori, Partners for Law & Development, Zubaan Books, Uma Chakravarti, Farida Khan, Pratiksha Baxi, we said, “It is sickening to see the depths to which the State can go to provide a cover-up for the guilty. It was only after weeks of violent protests that an FIR could be recorded. Does the filing of an FIR have to wait for ‘conclusive evidence’ of rape and murder before it can be registered?”

The state government, on 3 June 2009, appointed a One Man Commission — Justice Muzaffar Ahmad Jan — to investigate the case in response to “the peoples’ lack of faith in police”. Shockingly, the Commission submitted a 400-page report to the government, in which it called for more investigation into the role of security forces personnel, but suggested that the killings could be a result of a family feud. Not surprisingly, bringing in ‘new’ facts into the case, it said the victim’s brothers could be suspects because of their disproportionate income and bad reputation. To make things worse, the report accuses the murdered of bad character. It is striking that the government did not think of having even one woman on the Commission.

As protests continued in Kashmir and Delhi, the Centenary Committee to celebrate international Women’s Day, organised a protest demonstration at J&K on 18 June 2009

On 4 July 2009, the J&K High Court directed exhumation of the bodies of these women. Since no proper post-mortem of the women was conducted nor DNA report made available, four police officials were suspended on the recommendations of an inquiry commission for destruction of evidence. An FIR was registered too. Interestingly, the court also directed to carry out narco-analysis tests of the suspended police officials, a test that has been widely criticised by democratic groups in the country as a form of torture and a violation of human rights. However, the police officials managed to get a Supreme Court Stay on this. The situation in J&K is completely unacceptable to anyone even with the smallest tinge of a conscience; democracy is not a matter of elections or election rhetoric. Its substance is the rule of law and justice for all. Widespread militarization and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the Kashmir valley have provided immunity to security personnel in countless cases of rape, murder, disappearances and fake encounters. A few transfers, a camp removed, a few heads rolling, will not end the intolerable situation in J&K. The signals are clear: AFSPA must go for people to live normal lives; else the case of Shopian will not be the last. We register our strong protest on the incidents at Shopian and extend solidarity to the women of Kashmir in their struggle for justice, the rule of law, and for an end to all forms of immunity that obstructs the prosecution of the guilty. But the Shopian case also calls for some self reflection on the part of women’s groups, democratic rights groups and other progressive forces - when it comes to state abuse of power in regions like Kashmir, are we involved or active or responsive enough? It is evident that we need to make our protests stronger and more broad based if we expect to change anything.