SHOPIAN: ONE YEAR LATER

SHOPIAN:

ONE YEAR LATER

Newsletter May - Aug 2010 

A lot of water has flown under the bridge since our protest last year against the rape and murder of Aasiyan Jaan and Nilofer Jaan in Shopian on 29th May 2009. The case went through endless enquiries by the local police, Justice Jan Commission, Special Task Force of J&K police and finally by the CBI. The CBI investigation concluded that the two had died a ‘natural’ death ‘by drowning’ in the Rambi-Ara Nullah! The report lacked credibility. The CBI’s conclusions have to be viewed with suspicion as it charge sheeted government Doctors, public prosecuters, relatives of the two women and members of the Shopian Bar Association for having falsified evidence at all levels and of acting under pressure from Separatists but gave a clean chit to the security forces, who had clearly not only failed to carry out their duty, but had allegedly been the perpetrators of the violence. They also leaked storied to the press all along despite the High Court asking them to refrain from doing so. The findings of the CBI were incredulous. They claimed that Aasiyan’s hymen was intact when the body was exhumed after four months of burial! They were keen to show that there had been no rape – a story that would helped them ‘prove’ that the death had been ‘natural’. There were even stories that the doctor had given her own vaginal swab for investigation! 

When the CBI buried the case we decided to highlight the anomalies in CBI investigations but unfortunately we did not know where to go. So we wrote an open letter to The Chief Justice of India, Chairperson National Commission for Women and Chairperson National Human Rights Commission which was endorsed by a large number of organizations and individuals. The letter is reproduced here. 

In October this year a symposium is being organised in Delhi to underscore the need for peace and justice in theKashmir valley.We may remind the readers that the movement demanding justice in this double rape and murder case was a prolonged open struggle, carried out through writ petitions filed before Indian courts and demanding nothing more than proper investigation. But the entire valley, supported by democratic forces throughout the country, could not prevent the CBI’s whitewashing in the case. Since then it has become common knowledge that the security forces do not even stop at the murder of innocent citizens in Kashmir. With AFSPA on their side it is next to impossible for any action to be taken against them. 

It should surprise no one that after decades of such domination the entire valley is seething with anger - the only way forward is to ensure justice in cases of wrongdoings of security forces and in seeking this the rest of India has to be active. 

Box 

Open letter to the Chief Justice of India, Chairperson, National Commission for Women and Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission

Subject: Appeal for justice in the case of rape and murder of Aasiya Jaan and Neelofer Jaan in Shopian, J&K, 29 May 2009 

Today is the anniversary of the great tragedy in Shopian where Aasiya Jan, a young girl of 17 years, and Neelofer Jan, a young woman of 22, went missing and were found dead on the banks of Rambi-AraNullah on the morning of 30 May, 2009. Early investigations and evidence, and the systematic tampering of it, have implicated the security forces from the area, either of the crime, or at the very least of shielding the criminals, and obstructing the course of justice.  

On 17 August, the investigations in the case were handed over to the CBI, which has now called the deaths “natural” and by “drowning”, but the report fails to answer a number of questions:

•  How did Aasiya and Neelofer drown in Rambi-ara Nullah, a stream in which the water was barely ankle deep at most places? No-one has ever been known to drown in the Rambi-ara Nullah. It is important to mention that several witnesses in CBI’s own report have mentioned that Neelofer’s body was completely dry from one side.

•  The CBI fails to answer how a search party consisting of police, family and friends, scouring the area for more than four hours could have ‘missed’ finding Neelofer’s body where it was found the next morning – barely hundred yards away from the bridge in a floodlit high security zone.

•  While conducting the third post mortem post exhumation of the bodies, why did the CBI not call upon the two sets of doctors who had conducted the earlier post-mortems, as is common practice?

•  Why did the CBI fail to heed the direction of the High Court to call a post-mortem team from the Medical College, Srinagar and choose instead to call a team from AIIMS, New Delhi consisting of members who have a questionable reputation?

•  How can the CBI claim that the hymen of Aasiya was ‘intact’ after four months of burial in summer months? Not only has the CBI used this so-called ‘fact’ to ‘disprove’ sexual assault on Aasiya, but somehow they have used it to ‘prove’ no sexual assault on Neelofer as well… this despite several eye witness and doctor accounts of bodily injuries on both victims. Further, the presence of diatoms which has been advanced as the main evidence for the theory of drowning does not substantiate death by drowning as the Rambi-AraNullah is indeed the source of water supply for Shopian. 

As if all these lacunae and lapses were not enough, the CBI has now framed serious charges against all who differed with their ‘findings’. Those charged by the CBI include doctors, public prosecutors, members of the Bar Association, witnesses, and family members of the victims for having acted under the influence of “separatists” and consequently falsifying evidence, or intimidating witnesses. That is all those who pointed to sexual assault and an unnatural death have been charged by the CBI. 13 people in all. It is also disturbing that a perfectly peaceful agitation of the Shopian residents under the banner of Majlis-e-Mashavarat and the Shopian Bar Association which initiated the investigations and cooperated with the police have been clubbed as ‘separatists’ and anti-national.

In direct contrast to the way the CBI has hounded the family of the victims, and the people of Shopian and everyone else who came into the case after the bodies of the two women were recovered, the CBI has requested the High Court to quash all charges against the police personnel who had destroyed/neglected crucial evidence at the site, failed to register FIR on time and committed other lapses as were amply evident in the Jan Commission’s findings. When asked by the High Court to produce fresh evidence in support of dropping the charges they gave lie detector test to the police and gave them a clean chit again.  

What is even more distressing is that while this case is still pending, presiding judge, Justice B. Ghosh who was diligently monitoring the case and was responsible for the arrests of the police has been transferred out of the state. 

All these ‘findings’ of the CBI are deeply contradicted by fact finding reports by three independent groups and the Justice Jan Commission appointed by the Chief Minister J&K, as well as the J&K High court, which have all found cause to believe that the two women did not die a natural death and were likely victims of sexual assault and murder. 

In the face of such serious lapses by the CBI, we call upon you, as the Chief Justice of India//Chairperson, National Commission for Women//Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission to initiate a fresh and impartial enquiry to ensure that the truth one day be told. 

We hereby enclose two fact finding reports for your perusal and an article giving a brief critique of the CBI report and their partiality towards the police. We also request you to examine Justice Jan Commission report and that of the CBI investigation and the transcript of the lie detector tests. 

It is well known that the heavy presence of armed forces and the police in Kashmir has led to a large number of sexual assault on women in the past as well. No justice has been secured for the women of Kashmir. 

Let this not be one more case!

Looking forward to speedy and just solution of the case, 

Sincerely-

Signed by 40 Organisations and 67 individuals from different parts of the country