Kunan-Poshpora incident: SC admits state’s plea

New Delhi, December 4

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The Supreme Court today admitted for hearing an appeal by the Jammu and Kashmir government against a high court order for the payment of compensation to the victims of the 1991 Kunan-Poshpora mass rape allegedly committed by Army personnel.

The top court directed expeditious hearing of the appeals filed by the state government against various orders of the HC.

A Bench of Justices J Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul granted leave on the appeal of the state government and said all interim orders would continue.

In 2013, a writ petition was filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, alleging that Army personnel belonging to the Rajputana Rifles and the 68 Mountain Brigade had raided the remote villages of Kunan and Poshpora in Kupwara district and had committed mass-scale rapes and torture of villagers.

The charges have not been proved so far as there has been no progress in the trial.

It was alleged that on the intervening night of February 23 and 24, 1991, separate teams of Army personnel had entered several houses in the villages, took men of all ages into makeshift interrogation centres and tortured them. The plea alleged that over 30 women of the villages were raped by them.

An SIT probe was sought in the plea for carrying out a comprehensive investigation, besides seeking compensation and relief for the victims.

Standing counsel Shoeb Alam, appearing for the state government, said the compensation could not be given as directed by the HC under the provisions of Sections 545 (a) of the CrPC, which was introduced on April 24, 2012, and notified on April 23, 2013.

He said such a direction to pay compensation under a provision which did not exist at the time of the incident was contrary to law.

The state government also claimed that since the allegation was against Army personnel, a direction to the state government for the payment of compensation to the victims was without any legal backing. — PTI