India: Valley seeks measures to prevent ‘rape’ by forces

Hundreds of people have been taking to streets in the Valley to express solidarity with protesters in New Delhi seeking justice for the 23-year-old student gang-raped last week. One of the protesters at a rally in Srinagar's central square of Lal Chowk on Monday said they want stringent measures to prevent crimes against women and justice for hundreds of women allegedly raped by security forces during two decades of insurgency. "Who else than the people of Shopian (in south Kashmir) could feel this pain the people of Delhi are feeling? Our demand is that strict punishment should be awarded to these rapists, they should be immediately hanged. We fully support the protesters in Delhi,'' said Mohammad Shafi Khan, a local resident while referring to two Shopian women, who were alleged to have been raped and murdered in 2009. But a CBI inquiry ruled out rape and said the two had drowned in a shallow stream. But rights groups rejected the report, saying the CBI had done so to protect cops accused in the case. Another protester, who took part in a procession in Shopian to express solidarity with the Delhi gang-rape victim, echoed Khan. "We are feeling the pain of the rape victim in Delhi as same tragedy took place with us in 2009, when two women, Aasiya and Nelofar, were raped and then murdered.'' Khan said New Delhi should also punish those people who have committed alleged mass rapes like the one in Kunan-Poshpora in 1991. On October 19 last year, a State Human Rights Commission division bench had asked the government to constitute a Special Investigation Team to investigate the alleged mass rape of at least 30 women in Kunan and Poshpora villages of north Kashmir's Kupwara district. Soldiers from the Army's 4 Rajputana Rifles allegedly gang-raped the women in February 1991. "SIT should be headed by an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police," the bench had recommended. The protesters in Srinagar demanded immediate action on the commission's recommendations. Protests in solidarity with the Delhi rape victim were also reported from Jammu.