KL Report
SRINAGAR
Bringing much respite to the victims of Kunan Poshpora mass rape, the Judicial Magistrate Kupwara JA Geelani has dismissed the conclusion report submitted by police in the recently filed closure report and returned the case file to the police, asking for “further investigation to unravel the identity of those who happen to be perpetrators.”
As the demand of survivors for the re-investigation by Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by an officer of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) rank, the court while mentioning the lack of authority in ordering SIT, asked the further investigation to be conducted by an officer not below the rank of SSP and within a time bound period of 3 months.
On June 10, 2013, a protest petition was filed by Adv Parvez Imroz on behalf of the survivors of Kunan Poshpora mass rape of February 23-24, 1991, against the closure report of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, before the Judicial Magistrate, Kupwara. On June 13, 2013, the Chief Prosecuting Officer [CPO] filed objections, and today, oral arguments were made before the Magistrate.
The protest petition argued that the police investigations were incomplete and clearly mala fide as despite having the information on file regarding the involvement of 125 personnel of 4th Rajputana Rifles, the police had not questioned them and neither was an identification parade conducted. The Judicial Magistrate Kupwara while acknowledging the submissions made by us has mentioned in the judgment that, “Until date the investigating agency has not unveiled the identity of the culprits despite having a clear cut nominal role of 125 suspects.”
