The Gulzar Ahmad Bhat judgment
On 12 February 2015, the Principal Sessions Judge, Budgam, Syed Tawqeer Ahmad, acquitted Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, and other co-accused, in the case relating to the institutionally supported sexual violence against young women (including minors) boarding at a religious institute in Shamsabad, Lattur, Chadoora, Budgam district.
The Gulzar Ahmad Bhat acquittal is another illustration of the systems of justice in Jammu and Kashmir that are a product of a climate of impunity where the Indian State forces are not prosecuted. This impunity is sustained by a class of individuals who occupy positions of power and gain from continued Indian rule.
From a strictly legal viewpoint, the judgment is bad in law. Four young women testified that they were raped by the main accused, Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, self-styled god man, and he was abetted by certain other named co-accused. One young woman testified of attempted rape by the main accused. The evidence against the main accused was strong, and undisturbed in cross-examination. Further, there were certain other prosecution witnesses who did not testify on the actual rape but on the surrounding circumstances of the crime. The defence case relied on the traditional yet completely unacceptable and irrelevant defence: the character of the young women. Whether in the cross-examination (carried out by defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmad Dar), or in the defence case, the focus was to suggest that the young women were not of good character a defence that has absolutely no basis in law as it has no connection to the actual and specific allegations of rape. The condemnable tactics of Adv. Mushtaq Ahmad Dar were augmented by the seeming incompetence (at the very least) of the investigating officers and the public prosecutor in collecting and leading evidence in the case. For example, while the record suggests that some of the victims were minors, the public prosecutor himself chose to admit that they were all majors. Meanwhile the investigating officers failed to correctly ascertain what fluid was being administered to the women before they were raped. In fact it appears that the FSL findings were not even collected by the police from the laboratory. Despite this, the evidence on record should have led to a conviction. But, Principal Sessions Judge, Budgam, did not give the evidence its proper weight, and seemingly discarded the Indian Supreme Court jurisprudence that the evidence of the prosecutrix (in this case FOUR women) is sufficient, delay in FIR is per se irrelevant in rape cases, the lack of medical examination does not weaken the case, and that no independent witnesses are required in a case such as rape. Further, while dismissing the evidence of four women, Principal Sessions Judge, Budgam gave weight to extremely flimsy evidence from defence witnesses of this being a case of false implication based on a grudge that the women had against the institution for being disciplined on some minor issues. Finally, despite Supreme Court guidelines, the names of the four victims have been made public in the judgment.
Reports have already emerged of the involvement of certain powerful individuals in this case. Such individuals with access to systems of justice and religious institutions and god men are used to manipulations, cover ups and criminality. Therefore, besides a demand for justice in this case, and support for the young women, this acquittal must also lead to a public debate on all those who support the continuation of impunity. It is clear that the impunity will not remain only for the armed forces, but will necessarily lead to a wider impunity for all crimes.
Kashmiri Womens Resistance Day, 23 February, was to serve as a reminder of State violence against women, and resistance. It must also be a reminder of civilian violence against women in Jammu and Kashmir particularly as such violence is inevitably engendered by the larger political realities of Jammu and Kashmir. Militarization of Kashmiri lives and livelihoods creates conducive conditions for the perpetuation and intensification of all gendered inequality and violence.
Spokesperson
Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society