The Indian Army vs a 16-year old Kashmiri girl
Handwara rape case: clearing the air
Over the past month, the ‘world's most beautiful prison’ has seen turmoil once again, with some media houses and government mouth pieces in the occupied territory shedding different shades of light on the horrific ordeal that the Kashmiri people had to face. It all began in the after-noon of 12th April, when a 16 year old school-girl was molested by an Indian army officer, while she was going to a toilet next to her school. It was located in close vicinity of a bunker of the 21 Rashtriya Rifles, placed in the centre of the street. The desperate screams of the minor girl alerted the people in the surrounding market and very soon, an infuriated crowd of locals had gathered, the gathered unarmed civilians protested the molestation of the minor girl and demanded the arrest of the army man, but the forces from the bunker started indiscriminate firing, resultantly, killing two young men and a woman and injuring at least two dozen other unarmed civilians.
[Army Bunker Set on Fire by protestors, Photo: Zulkarnain Bandey, JKCCS]
The Handwara Police took the girl away, as soon as the people started gathering, and placed her under custody at the Handwara police station. Later that day, after the deaths of three innocent people, a video of the girl filmed by the Jammu and Kashmir police surfaced online in which she exculpates the army of all blame. The video, that received thousands of views online, was extensively propagated by the Indian army and the J&K police, also through television channels. However, the other side was not presented until the Jammu Kashmir Coalation of Civil Society (JKCCS) was approached for legal assistance. The minor girl was taken in to custody, without any elder and she was allowed no legal counsel before they took her statement for propagation without any sort of legal proceeding, neither did they attempt to properly conceal the identity of the girl for protection purposes. The statement of the girl, obviously filmed under undue influence and threat was coerced in addition to which it was legally unjustifiable also. The girl was kept in police custody, and her father was summoned at 1 am of 13th of April to the Police station to take his daughter back, and he was asked to bring an extra ‘pheran’ along with him. The father later told how his daughter was coerced, harassed and even spat on, and that he was not allowed to accompany his daughter to the magistrate for her statement.
[A protestor climbing to remove the Indian flag, Photo: Zulkarnain Bandey]
On 15th, the government barred the JKCCS legal team from meeting the mother of the detained minor, who expressed her concern for the safety of her husband, sister and daughter in Police custody, she feared the use of influence and force on her family. The government denying them their legal rights, barred the movement of the JKCCS legal team beyond Ganapora village. Though, on 16th they finally arranged a press conference for the mother of the Handwara victim to talk to the press, at the JKCCS office. On that date, internet in Kashmir was shut down, and the security agencies barred them from carrying on their press conference and restricting the media online. But the JKCCS recorded a video of the mother explaining her point of view over the matter, and Programme Coordinator JKCCS Khurram Parvez, writer of the report ‘Structures of Violence’ which documents more than a thousand extra judicial killings in Indian occupied Kashmir, shared the video on his facebook account.The legal battle between the Indian security forces and the minor girl along with her family continued over a month through which they were kept under ‘protective custody’ against their will, they were shifted to isolated locations and their movement was restricted. They had reiterated several times and given in writing on different platforms that they did not require any sort of protective custody. Finally, on 12th of May, their illegal detention ended through high court orders as the parents of the minor girl had to deposit affidavits where they mentioned that they were all kept under custody wrongful, against their will.In one of their press releases, the JKCCS also mentioned a similar incident from 2004, in Handwara where another Army officer was reported to have raped a mother and her daughter, he was not trialed in a civil court even though the then Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed assured that the guilty officer would be punished, the officer was later reinstated in the Army.
Their battle to vindicate the stance of the minor girl and her family still continues, with the JKCCS on their side against the security forces which have a history of several heinous and inhumane crimes against the Kashmiri people. They have received support from activists around the globe and also from inside India. The death of at least 5 unarmed protesters, the removal of the Indian flag by protesters and the charring down of the Rashtriya Rifles bunker in Handwara, has echoed the strain in the relations of the people and the forces once again, this issue has become more than a case between an individual and an offender, but it is a battle between the people for their rights, safety and sanctity and the Indian forces.
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