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The Kunan Poshspora incident occurred on February 23, 1991, when unit(s) of the Indian security forces after being fired upon by militants, launched a search operation in the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora, located in Kashmir's remote Kupwara District. The residents of the neighbourhood stated that militants had fired on soldiers nearby, which prompted the operation. Villagers allege that many women were raped by soldiers that night. The first investigation done by the local magistrate reported the number of victims as 23. However, Human Rights Watch have said that the number of raped women could be between 23 and 100. These allegations were denied by the army, and the government determined that the evidence not sufficient and issued statement condemning the allegations as terrorist propaganda.

Although the Indian government′s investigations into the incident rejected the allegations as "baseless," international human rights organizations have expressed serious doubts about the integrity of these investigations and the manner in which they were conducted, stating that the Indian government launched a "campaign to acquit the army of charges of human rights violations and discredit those who brought the charges."

Incident

The New York Times had quoted, the residents of the Kunan Poshpora neighbourhood stating that militants had fired on security forces nearby, which prompted the search operation by the forces. On February 23, 1991 The paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force cordoned off the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora to conduct a search operation for the militants.

Later on the local militant commander of the Hizbi Islami organization named Mushtaq ul-Islam gave an interview to the New York Times from a well-guarded hideout in the same neighborhood. His Islamic fundamentalist organization supported Kashmir to join Pakistan. His group had been broadcasting messages over loudspeakers, asking the security personnel to convert to Islam. The militant leader had denied that his group had fired first on the troops but claimed that his commandos were armed to fight the forces off.

After the search operation, villagers alleged that many women were gang raped by soldiers that night.

Investigations

On 5 March, The villagers complained about the incident to the local magistrate S.M. Yasin. After visiting the village on 7th March, he filed his report that included the statement from 23 women alleging they have been raped. The report also raised questions about the discrepancies in the testimony of the women and suggested a more comprehensive investigation. The increased publicity about the incident in the national media led to strong denials from Indian military officials.

On March 17, Mufti Baha-ud-Din Farooqi, Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, led a fact-finding mission to Kunan Poshpora. Over the course of his investigation, he interviewed 53 women who claimed to have been raped by the soldiers, 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 this case normal investigative procedures were ignored." Just a few months later, in July, 1991, Dilbaugh Singh was transferred to another station without ever having started the investigation.

On March 18, Wajahat Habibullah, the divisional commissioner, after a visit to the village filed a report. Habibullah had found the complaint to be exaggerated but not unfounded. A certificate of good behaviour was given to the troops before departing from Kunan Poshpura, by the village headman known as lumbardar. The lumbardar had told Habibullah his unawareness of the alleged crimes against the women. Habibullah's report concluded that the veracity of the complaint was highly doubtful, but the reason for such a complaint should be investigated. The report recommended for further investigation by a gazetted police officer."

The government's investigation was criticized, subsequently the Press Council of India, a statutory & quasi-judicial body of the print media, appointed a committee for the investigation of the incident. The investigative committee visited Kunan Poshpora in June. Upon interviewing a number of the alleged victims, the team claimed that contradictions in their testimony rendered their allegations of rape "baseless." A pediatrician who was a member of a citizen's group named as the Jammu and Kashmir People's Basic Rights Committee and had made the allegation 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 four days later. The investigative committee interviewed the hospital officials and concluded that injuries like this may happen due to the efforts of doctors, who are trying to position the unborn fetus for a delivery. On March 15 and 21, Medical examinations were conducted on 32 of the women, confirmed presence of abrasions on their chests and abdomens, and three of the unmarried women had torn hymens. The team concluded that "such a delayed medical examination proves nothing" and that such abrasions are commonly found among villagers in Kashmir. The hymen can be torn due to natural factors, injury or pre marital sex Ultimately, the team concluded that the charges against the army were, "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".

In stark contrast of the purported allegations of abuses, these investigations concluded the allegations themselves are "grossly exaggerated or invented".

"The Kunan rape story on close investigation turns out to be a massive hoax orchestrated by militant groups and their sympathizers and mentors in Kashmir and abroad as a part of sustained and cleverly contrived strategy of psychological warfare and as an entry point for reinscribing Kashmir on the International Agenda as a Human rights issue. The loose-ends and the contradictions in the story expose a tissue of lies by many persons at many levels".—Investigation Committee

The Press Council's dismissal of allegation was criticized by Human Rights Watch. It stated that although the results of the examinations failed to prove the charges of rape, they still raised questions on activity of the army in Kunan Poshpora. According to HRW, the committee had dismissed any evidence that may contradict the government version of events. The HRW report accused the committee of being more concerned about countering the criticism than uncovering truth.

The United States Department of State, in its 1992 report on international human rights, stated that there was "credible evidence" that supports the mass rape charges against the army unit at Kunan Poshpora.

Aftermath

Following the release of the Press Council's report, Indian authorities dismissed all of the allegations of mass rape as groundless. In 2007, The villagers from the two villages formed Kunan-Poshpora Coordination Committee (KCC) headed by 70-year-old man Ghulam Ahmad Dar to seek justice for the victims. In October 2011 The State Human Rights Commission asked the government to reinvestigate the mass rape case and compensate the victims.

Social impact

The Indian Express reported on July 21, 2013 that the victims and their families are being socially ostracised by other villagers in the locality. The only government school in the two affected villages teaches up to standard eight. The students going for higher education in the nearby Trehgam and Kupwara were taunted due to the incident and most of them choose to drop out after class eight.

Families unscathed by the incident even in the affected villages have banned all social contact with the victims' families. Parents say it is difficult to marry off their children. At least one family has confessed to marrying off their 16-year-old daughter to a 50-year-old divorcee and father of three because "none of the young men in the village came forward" and "a search for prospective grooms outside the village was never an option after the incident."

See also

• Rape during the Kashmir conflict

References

1. Pervez, Ayesha. "Politics of rape in Kashmir". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
2. Jha, Prashant. "Unravelling a 'mass rape'". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
3. Rafiq, Zahid. "Spirited fight for dignity". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-05-13. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
4. ^ Crossette, Barbara; Times, Special To The New York (7 April 1991). "India Moves Against Kashmir Rebels". The New York Times. p. 3. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
5. Abdul Majid Mattu (2002). Kashmir issue: a historical perspective. Ali Mohammad & Sons. "On February 23, 1991, perhaps as many as 100 women were reported to have been raped in kashmir by soldiers of the Fourth Raj Rifles, who were posted in Kupwara."
6. ^ Abdication of Responsibility: The Commonwealth and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch. 1991. pp. 13–20. ISBN 978-1-56432-047-6.
7. James Goldston; Patricia Gossman (1991). Kashmir Under Siege: Human Rights in India. Human Rights Watch. pp. 88–91. ISBN 978-0-300-05614-3.
8. International Human Rights Organisation (1992). Indo-US shadow over Punjab. International Human Rights Organisation."...reports that Indian armymen belonging to the 4th Rajputana Rifles of the 68 Mountain Division entered a settlement at Kunan Poshpora in Kupwara district on the night of February 23–24, 1991 and gangraped a minimum of 23 and a maximum of 100 women of all ages and in all conditions."
9. Manoj Joshi (January 1999). The lost rebellion. Penguin Books. p. 490. ISBN 978-0-14-027846-0. "It also exposes hitherto unknown facets of the US position on Kashmir and investigates sensitive issues like the alleged mass rape at Kunan Poshpora, the infamous alley deaths and the abduction of four foreigners by the mysterious Al Faran militant outfit."
10. ^ "Mass Rape Survivors Still Wait for Justice in Kashmir". Trustlaw - Thomson Reuters Foundation. Reuters. 7 Mar 2012. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
11. ^ "Human Rights Watch World Report 1992". World Report 1992. Human Rights Watch. 1 Jan 1992. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
12. "Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 - India". UNHCR Refworld. 1 Jan 1992.
13. Noorani, A.G. (19 July – 1 August 2008). "Why Kashmir Erupts". Frontline - INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE. Vol. 25, no. 15. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
14. ^ Crisis and credibility:Press Council of India. Lancer International. December 1991. p. 12. ISBN 8170621526.
15. Crossette, Barbara (1 February 1992). "State Department Cites China and Other Nations for Human-Rights Abuses". The New York Times. p. 6. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
16. ^ Bashaarat Masood; Rifat Mohidin (2013-07-21). "The Silence of a Night". The Indian Express. pp. 10, 11.
17. Ganai, Naseer (21 Oct 2011). "Human rights panel asks Jammu and Kashmir govt to reopen army mass rape case". India Today. Living Media India Limited. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

• Conflicts in 1991
• Political repression in India
• Military scandals
• 1991 in India
• Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir
• Rape in India