HC stays 2013 magisterial orders in Kunan Poshpora ‘mass’ rape

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 15

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has stayed the 2013 orders of a Kupwara Magistrate, which called for reopening of the 1991 Kunan Poshpora “mass” rape case and an identification parade of the alleged Army perpetrators.

The orders were passed by the Vacation Judge of the High court, Justice Tashi Rabstan, today in a petition, filed by the Army.

Over 30 women were allegedly raped by Army personnel in remote Kunan Poshpora village of Kupwara on February 23, 1991.

The charges have not been proved as no trial has been held so far.

In the petition, listed before the J&K High Court today, the Army had sought quashing of the orders passed by the Kupwara Magistrate on June 18, 2013, and the orders passed by the Sessions Court, Kupwara, on August 8, 2014, under Section 561 of the CrPC.

After perusal of the petition by the Army and hearing the submissions by the Army counsels, Karnail Singh and AP Singh, Justice Tashi Rabstan issued notices to the Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, and the Station House Officer, Trehgam police station, directing them to file their objections to the Army petition within two weeks.

“In the meantime, subject to the objections and till next date, the impugned order dated 18/06/2013, passed by the Kupwara Magistrate, and the order dated 08/08/2014, passed by the Sessions Court, Kupwara, shall stay,” Justice Rabstan observed in his orders passed today.

In its revision petition before the Kupwara Sessions Court, subsequently dismissed on August 8, 2014, the Army had challenged the identification parade of its personnel, accused in the 1991 Kunan Poshpora ‘mass rape’ case, as was directed by the Judicial Magistrate, Kupwara, in his decision announced on June 18, 2013.

The Army had argued in the revision petition that the identification parade was difficult, given the passage of over 22 years, and had also opposed arraying the survivors and victims as parties in the revision petition.

In 2013, while acting on a protest petition by the victims and survivors of the incident, a magisterial court in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district had 

on June 18, 2013, reopened the Kunan Poshpora ‘mass’ rape case after 22 years.

While sending the case “back” to the police for “further” investigation, the court had directed that the probe be completed in three months.

The Magistrate had observed that the identity of 125 suspected Army personnel, whose list had been provided, had not been “revealed” even as the victims in their protest petition had sought to “ascertain the role of 125 Army personnel” who allegedly took part in the incident. The police have failed to complete the investigation and sought extension on two occasions.