Rape And Murder At Shopian, One Year Later
By Concerned Citizens
28 May, 2010
Countercurrents.org
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 Jan and Neelofer Jan 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-Ara Nullah 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-Ara Nullah 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-
Organisations:
Aalochan, Pune
Akshara, Mumbai
All India Progressive Women's Association
Anhad, Delhi
Cadam, Delhi
Delhi Forum, Delhi
Forum Against Oppression Of Women, Mumbai
Gramya Resource Centre For Women
Hazards Centre, Delhi
Jagori, Delhi
Jagori Grameen
LABIA
Madhya Pradesh Mahila Manch. Bhopal
Manav, Delhi
Maraa, a media collective, Bangalore
Namma Manasa, Bengaluru
National Alliance of People's Movements, Delhi
Nirantar Resource Centre for Gender & Education, Delhi
Partners for Law in Development. Delhi
Pratidhwani, Delhi
PUCL Andhra Pradesh
PUCL Rajasthan
Purogami Mahilla Sahngathan, Delhi
Saheli, Delhi
Sahiyar Vadodara
Sama, Resource Group for Women & Health, Delhi
Samajwadi Jan Parishad, M.P
Samanatha Mahila Vedike,Bengaluru
Sangini, Bhopal
Sangram, Maharashtra
Shramik Adivasi Sanghthan, Betul
Swayam, Kolkata
The Other Media, Delhi
VAMP, Maharashtra
VAMP, Karnataka.
Vimochana Forum for Women's Rights, Bengaluru
Vividha, Jaipur
Zubaan, Dlhi.
Indivuals
Dr Ajita Rao, Delhi
Akhil Katyal, London
Akshara, Hyderabad
Anomita Goswami, Delhi
Anuradha Bhasin, Jammu
Anusha Hariharan, Delhi
Arati Chokshi, Bengaluru
Arti Sawhny and Kiran Dubey, Ajmer
Aryakrishnan Ramakrishnan, Thiruvananthapuram
Ashley Tellis, Hyderabad
Bindu Menon, Delhi
Chinmay and Saroj Mishra, Indore
Deepak Srinivasan, Bengaluru
Dunu Roy, Delhi
Gautam Bhan, Delhi
Indu Jain, Delhi
Indu Prakash Singh, Delhi
Jaya Vindhyala, Hyderabad
Kavita Srivastava, Rajasthan
Lata Singh, Delhi
Lesley A. Esteves,
Madhu Mehra, Delhi
Mangai, Chennai
Mary E John, Delhi
Mary S.
Maya Krishna Rao, Delhi
Nandini Rao, Delhi
Nandita Gandhi, Mumbai
Navaneetha Mokkil , USA
Neelima P.A., Delhi
Neha Kagal, Pune
Nalini Visvanathan , USA
Nidhi Agarwal, Himachal Pradesh
Nivedita Menon, Delhi
Pamela Philipose, Delhi
Pauline Gomes, Deli
Penkoothu, Kerala
Ponni Arasu, Delhi
Pramada Menon, Gurgaon
Prarthana Mishra, Bhopal
Priya Thangarajah, Bengaluru
Pushpa Achanta , Bengaluru
Rajashri Dasgupta, Kolkata
Ranjana Padhi, Pune
Ratna, Bangalore
Rosemary Dzuvichu, Nagaland
Dr Rukmini Rao, Hyderabad
Sadhna Saxena, Delhi
Sangeeta Chattergee, Mumbai
Savita Sharma, Delhi
Seema Kazi, Delhi
Seema Misra, Delhi
Shabnam Hashmi, Delhi
Shipra Nigam
Shweta Vachani, Delhi
Sophie Murphy, Delhi
Sumit Baudh, Delhi
Sumi Krishna, Bangalore
Suneeta Dhar, Delhi
Tara Negi, Delhi
Dr Uma Chakravarty, Delhi
Urmimala Sarkar, Munsi
Urvashi Butalia, Delhi
Dr Veena R Poonacha, Mumbai
Dr Vineeta Bal, Delhi
References
1.MILITARIZATION WITH IMPUNITY:
A Brief on Rape and Murder in Shopian, Kashmir, International People's Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Kashmir (IPTK) http://www.kashmirprocess.org
2. A brief critique of CBI theories and practice
