Kunan-Poshpora: Reconstructing truth

During a visit to Kashmir in June 2013, former Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid made a startling remark on the infamous Kunan-Poshpora incident. Referring to accusations of the mass rape and torture of Kashmiri villagers by the Indian Army on the intervening night of 23-24 February 1991, Khurshid told the media, "I am ashamed that [it] happened in my country." Khurshid's admission is ironic, not least because it is at total variance with the Indian state's persistent denial that Kunan-Poshpora ever happened. Twenty-three years have gone by, and five women waiting for justice have died. The case remains in a legal quagmire.

Kunan-Poshpora epitomises not only the Indian state's complete denial that gross human rights violations are being perpetrated by security forces in Kashmir, but, also, the Kafkaesque experience Kashmiris are subject to in seeking legal redress. Extra-ordinary legislation such as the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, for example, stipulates that the J & K government cannot prosecute armed forces personnel without sanction from the central ministries. Not only has no sanction ever been given, but there exists a sense of immunity so pervasive that even the normal procedures of criminal law, such as registering a First Information Report (FIR), initiating investigations, or filing a closure report before a magistrate, are routinely disregarded. The judicial system remains helpless as police and security personnel ignore standard procedures, flout court orders, prolong trials for decades on end and, often, do not even bother to appear in court.