SRINAGAR: A sessions court in Kupwara has recorded the statements of five victims of the alleged mass rape that took place in KunanPoshpora villages of north Kashmir in 1991.
The High Court had directed for proceedings in the case to be paced up.
On May 14, it disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) on the mass rape case holding that it would be premature for it to intervene as the case is pending before the Sessions court in Kupwara.
Coalition of Civil Society, a human rights group, had filed the PIL through Parvaiz Imroz on behalf of 50 alleged victims of the mass rape.
‘Cover up’
Army soldiers are alleged to have raped 36 women after they cordoned off the Kunan-Poshpora villages and launched a house-to-house search for militants.
According to the villagers the troops ordered menfolk out of their homes and then raped the hapless women.
A team of the Press Council Of India headed by B G Verghese gave a clean chit to the troops and said there were inconsistencies in testimonies of the women. It also called the charges against the army men “a well-concocted bundle of fabricated lies”.
However Kashmir-based media persons as also human rights activists dismissed the report as a “cover up”.
Two years ago the State Human Rights Commission recommended to the state government to reopen the case and compensate the victims.
However, so far, no compensation has been paid.
Meanwhile, spokesman of Coalition of Civil Society, Khuram Pervez expressed surprise that the statements of victims were recorded in an open court in contravention to the Supreme Court guidelines on protecting the identity of the rape victims.
He said, the human rights group will explore legal avenues on protecting the identity of other victims who are scheduled to depose before the court on June 10, the PTI reports.
