1991 Kunan Poshpora incident

Mass rape in Kashmir April 2021 April 2021 yes The Kunan Poshpora incident was a mass rape that occurred on 23 February 1991 when a unit of the Indian security forces, after being fired upon by militants, launched a search operation in the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora, located in Kashmir's remote Kupwara district.https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/unravelling-a-mass-rape/article4892195.ece Unravelling a 'mass rape' Jha Prashant The Hindu 2017-05-13 en https://web.archive.org/web/20170227130251/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/unravelling-a-mass-rape/article4892195.ece 2017-02-27 liveCrossette Barbara 7 April 1991 India Moves Against Kashmir Rebels 3 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/world/india-moves-against-kashmir-rebels.html?pagewanted%3Dall%26src%3Dpm 2017-09-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20181002143347/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/world/india-moves-against-kashmir-rebels.html?pagewanted%3Dall%26src%3Dpm 2018-10-02 While the first information report filed in the local police station after a visit by the local magistrate reported the number of women who reported rape as 23, the Human Rights Watch assessed the number of survivors to be up to 100.Abdication of Responsibility: The Commonwealth and Human Rights https://books.google.com/books?id=_QTz5PCDvjEC 1991 Human Rights Watch 978-1-56432-047-6 13–20International Human Rights Organisation Indo-US shadow over Punjab https://books.google.com/books?id=MWluAAAAMAAJ 1992 International Human Rights Organisation"...reports that Indian armymen belonging to the 4th Rajputana Rifles of the 68 Mountain Division entered a settlement at Kunan Poshpora in Kupwara district on the night of February 23–24, 1991 and gangraped a minimum of 23 and a maximum of 100 women of all ages and in all conditions." The accusations were denied by the Indian army as the government "determined that the evidence was not sufficient" and issued a statement condemning the accusations as "terrorist propaganda". The government's investigations into the incident rejected the reports as "baseless".Global Press Institute 7 March 2012 Mass Rape Survivors Still Wait for Justice in Kashmir https://news.trust.org/item/20120307023000-i7m26/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210207122324/https://news.trust.org//item/20120307023000-i7m26/ 7 February 2021 2023-07-04 Thomson Reuters Foundation However, international human rights organizations have expressed serious doubts about the integrity of these investigations and the manner in which they were conducted. Human Rights Watch stated that the government had launched a "campaign to acquit the army of charges of human rights violations and discredit those who brought the charges."https://www.hrw.org/reports/1992/WR92/ASW-07.htm Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 1 Jan 1992 https://web.archive.org/web/20121012082133/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1992/WR92/ASW-07.htm 12 October 2012 http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/467fca501a.html Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 - India UNHCR Refworld 1 Jan 1992 2008-12-18 https://web.archive.org/web/20110521060258/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/467fca501a.html 2011-05-21 live Incident The New York Times had quoted the residents of the Kunan Poshpora neighbourhood stating that militants had fired on security forces nearby, which prompted the search operation by the forces. On 23–24 February 1991, soldiers from the 4th Rajputana RiflesHuman Rights Watch 1993 Rape in Kashmir https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/INDIA935.PDF Human Rights Watch 7Braithwaite John Cascades of Violence: War, Crime and Peacebuilding Across South Asia. D'Costa Bina Australian National University Press 2018 246–247 conducted the search operation and cordoned the neighbouring villages of Kunan and Poshpora. According to testimonies from male villagers, men were detained across three locations where they were subject to torture throughout the night. Reported methods included beatings, electric shocks, and headfirst submersion in water mixed with chilis. Several men described hearing women scream from nearby homes.Bose Sumantra Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict Yale University Press 2021 79–80 Local women said around 40 individuals had been raped during the operation, often by multiple soldiers. Three weeks after the incident, 32 women and girls aged between 15 and 70 underwent medical examination at a nearby medical centre. The examining physician documented widespread abrasions and contusions across all those examined. The medical report also noted that one male villager had genital burns caused by electric shocks. Political Scientist Sumantra Bose stated that it appeared many teenage girls did not seek medical examination due to social stigma.Bose Sumantra Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict Yale University Press 2021 80 Statements by the villagers further noted an incident where one crying baby was thrown through a ground-floor window into the snow. At dawn, Abdul Ghani, a local police constable, retrieved the child and placed them on the home's verandah before going from house to house covering the women and girls with blankets.Bose Sumantra Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict Yale University Press 2021 81 Later on the local leader of the Hizb-e-Islami militant group gave an interview to the New York Times in which he denied the claim that the group had shot first, but added that his commandos were armed to fight the forces off. Investigations The Press Council of India investigated the case in summer 1991 and concluded that the rape reports could not be proven. Following that, the government declared the case as "unfit for launching criminal prosecution" in September 1991 and closed it a month later.November 2025 The Press Council's conclusions were criticised by the Human Rights Watch which stated that the results of the examinations still raised questions about the activity of the Indian army in Kunan Poshpora. According to HRW, the Press Council's investigative committee had dismissed any evidence that may contradict the government version of events. The HRW report accused the committee of being focused on shielding the Indian government from criticism rather than uncovering truth. The United States Department of State, in its 1992 report on international human rights, stated that there was "credible evidence" that supports the mass rape charges against the army unit at Kunan Poshpora.Crossette Barbara State Department Cites China and Other Nations for Human-Rights Abuses The New York Times 6 1 February 1992 https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/01/world/state-department-cites-china-and-other-nations-for-human-rights-abuses.html?pagewanted%3Dall%26src%3Dpm https://web.archive.org/web/20181002180555/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/01/world/state-department-cites-china-and-other-nations-for-human-rights-abuses.html?pagewanted%3Dall%26src%3Dpm 2018-10-02 2017-09-02 Litigation In 2004, one of the alleged victims approached the J&K State Human Rights Commission seeking a reinvestigation of the case. In 2007, more women asked the SHRC to reopen of the case. The villagers from the two villages formed Kunan-Poshpora Coordination Committee (KCC) headed by 70-year-old man Ghulam Ahmad Dar to seek justice for the victims. In October 2011, the Jammu & Kashmir Human Rights Commission asked the J&K government to reinvestigate the reported mass rape case and compensate the victims.https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/shrc-wants-jammu-and-kashmir-army-mass-rape-case-reopened-143852-2011-10-20 Human rights panel asks Jammu and Kashmir govt to reopen army mass rape case India Today 21 October 2011 Ganai Naseer A writ petition filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in 2013 alleged that more than 30 women had been raped. The charges had not been proved and there had been no progress in trial. The High Court observed that it hoped the committee appointed by the J&K government would examine and quickly implement the recommendations of the SHRC. In December 2017, the J&K government approached the Supreme Court of India against orders of the High Court. The top court directed that the appeals should be heard expeditiously.1991 Kunan Poshpora mass rape incident: Supreme Court admits Jammu and Kashmir's plea https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/dec/04/1991-kunan-poshpora-mass-rape-incident-supreme-court-admits-jammu-and-kashmirs-plea-1718371.html 4 October 2018 newindianexpress.com 4 December 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20181005071903/http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/dec/04/1991-kunan-poshpora-mass-rape-incident-supreme-court-admits-jammu-and-kashmirs-plea-1718371.html 2018-10-05 live Social impact The Indian Express reported on 21 July 2013 that the victims and their families were being socially ostracised by other villagers in the locality.The Silence of a Night Bashaarat Masood Rifat Mohidin http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-silence-of-a-night/1144455/ The Indian Express 2013-07-21 10, 11 https://web.archive.org/web/20130727034414/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-silence-of-a-night/1144455 2013-07-27 live The only government school in the two affected villages teaches up to standard eight. The students going for higher education in the nearby Trehgam and Kupwara were taunted due to the incident and most of them choose to drop out after class eight. Families not involved in the incident at the same villages have disassociated socially with the victims' families. Villagers claimed that it was difficult to find grooms for their children. In February 2026, Azim Premji University Sarjapura was vandalized by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad for allowing a reading circle to conduct a discussion program titled Kunan Poshpora in the campus. See also Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora? Rape during the Kashmir conflict References Category:1990s in Jammu and Kashmir Category:Rape in the 1990s Category:Indian military scandals Category:1991 crimes in India Category:Indian war crimes in the Kashmir conflict Category:Sexual violence in the Kashmir conflict Category:Mass sexual assault Category:February 1991 in India Category:February 1991 crimes Category:Kupwara district