But a government in denial mode could not kill the story. It got international attention as this was for the first time in the subcontinent that such an allegation was leveled after the fall of Dhaka.
Scared of the attention, the army wrote to the press council of India against the media. A three member committee led by B G Verghese that the council had already set up was asked to look into a couple of cases in Kashmir as well. While (late) Jamna Das Akhter, one of its members, had reportedly disowned the findings, the Council came with a report dubbing the allegations “well-concocted bundle of fabricated lies” and “a massive hoax orchestrated by militant groups and their sympathizers and mentors in Kashmir and abroad”. It gave army a clean chit and damned the Srinagar media. The state government purchased hundreds of copies of the report – after it was printed in book form, and every officer would gladly offer a free copy to anybody and everybody from media and diplomacy once they landed in Srinagar.
It was followed by a lull, a long one. People who have reported 1991 know that a morning event would become stale news in the afternoon. People were being killed like ants from all sides, and there was complete lack of follow-up, primarily for want of time and secondarily for want of space, especially in the vernacular media that was under stress from all sides.
It was the peak of walkie-talkies, so phones were not working much. Travelling then was difficult. The taxi driver that took the first battery of reporters to Kunan took nearly four hours to reach Trehgam because of bad road conditions, protracted halts at drop-gates and questioning by soldiers, in between. After spending most of the day in the village, when the reporters reached the DC’s office at around 5 pm, he could barely offer 10-minues because “he wanted to be at his (official) residence early” for obvious reasons of situation! Those were the days of surviving at your own peril, regardless of the status.
After all these years, when SHRC delivered the decision, it was a major development. Waiting for months, as nothing happened, a group of women with the help of Coalition of Civil Society, petitioned the High Court in March this year. With SHRC recommendations in pocket, they approached the court seeking reinvestigation of the case.
A division bench framed certain questions that the petitioners of the PIL answered. Notices were served to the state and responses came. Finally, it was revealed that the competent court in Kupwara is yet to pass its final order in the case.
The battle shifted back to Kupwara in June 2013 where the police filed a closure report of the case after more than 23 years, a record of sorts. JKCCS files a protest petition on June 10. It bore gaping holes in the police investigation of the case: statements of only 21 victims recorded even as 33 sent for medical examination. How can it be untraceable if prosecution has recorded 19 statements from soldiers? There has been nothing done to record the statements of officers who have been named by the villagers like Major Khullar. Army has itself accepted that 125 soldiers including nine army men were deputed for cordon and search operation.
On June 18, 2013, judicial magistrate Kupwara J A Geelani dismissed the recently-filed closure report and directed “further investigation to unravel the identity of those who happen to be perpetrators.” The order reads: “When it is prima facie established that during night hours, the men folk were taken out from their houses…then who could have raped the women folk for the entire night… is a circumstance which makes an unbreakable chain to put the suspects on trial.” The judge observed that there is presumption in a gang rape in favour of the victim.
Post-direction, police abides by the court direction, draws a schedule for recording of the statements of the victims afresh. Victims get summons. They reach the court only to be told the schedule has changed!
In between an interesting development took place.
