31 gangrape victims have now stepped out to drum up support.
Inside a jam-packed conference hall, a group of women with their faces covered, sobbed. Flashback of the horror of the 22-year-old mass rape of 31 women allegedly by army troops in Kunan Poshpora villages played in their minds.
“I dread that night when troopers entered my room and raped me,” said a woman with her face covered as tears rolled down from her eyes. “I appeal for justice that has been delayed for so long.”
On the dais an emotionally charged old man broke down narrating the awfulness of the intervening night of February 23 and 24, 1991. A pin drop silence descended in the hall as people listened with rapt attention to their 22 year old ordeal.
Stigmatised and ostracised the villagers of the Kunan Poshpora had suffered it all. Some of the girls were rejected by their in-laws. Some of them suffered serious health ailments. Some of the children had to drop out after they were taunted by their fellow students.
“Five victims have died in the last 22 years. Justice is still a far cry. Every year we observe that day when we were subjected to inhuman treatment by the troops. Life has changed for us since then,” said Mohammad Amin, a village elder, while breaking down in the hall.
Amin and the masked women were part of the group who travelled from remote Kunan Poshpora village in border district of Kupwara to meet the media persons and civil society members seeking their support in their pursuit for justice.
This followed the order of the judicial magistrate Kupwara JA Geelani, who dismissed the conclusions of the police in the recently filed closure report and asked for “further investigation” conducted by an officer not below the rank of SSP within three months.
“Today we commit: We will fight. We will not forget. We will not forgive. We will monitor the police investigations. We will extend absolute and complete support to the people of Kunan Poshpora when dealing with the further investigations,” said a spokesperson of Representatives of the Support Group for Justice for Kunan Poshpora.
Hundreds of students, women groups and civil society members had thronged to venue to hear the ordeal of the victims. Such was the charged atmosphere that people rose from their seats to give standing ovation to the face covered rape victims who stood ground for 22 years seeking justice from the mighty state.
Related articles
- #Kashmir- Kunan Poshpora Mass Rape Case Re-opened #Vaw #Womenrights (kashmirsolidaritymumbai.wordpress.com)
- Kashmir – Hearing of the Public Interest Petition on the Mass Rapes at Kunan Poshpora #Vaw (kashmirsolidaritymumbai.wordpress.com)
- Rape in Kashmir – The Forgotten War Crime (kashmirsolidaritymumbai.wordpress.com)
Kashmir Solidarity Group, Mumbai 
[…] #Kashmir- 22 years and still no justice for these women #kunanposhpora #Vaw […]
[…] #Kashmir- 22 years and still no justice for these women #kunanposhpora #Vaw […]