India has attempted to suppress the freedom movement of the Kashmiris by using mass rape as a weapon. In held-Kashmir, women are the biggest victims of explicit Indian democracy.
According to the Kashmir Media Service, from 1989 to 2020, 11,224 Kashmiri women have been sexually assaulted by the Indian army. In 1992 alone, 882 Kashmiri women were victims of mass rape.
According to the 1994 Human Rights Watch report, the Indian army uses mass rape as a weapon to spread fear and collective punishment.
The Indian Army engages in looting, massacres, and sexual assaults as acts of retaliation against Mujahideen.
According to Asia Watch, the Indian Army's violent actions have continued for years due to the absence of a system of accountability and punishment, within just one week, 44 extrajudicial killings and 15 sexual assaults were reported.
The Human Rights Watch reports that no one has been punished for the rapes, even though 76 years have passed. The Research Society of International Law reported that women aged 11 to 60 were not spared by Indian forces. As a result of the Indian government's open license, the Indian army is involved in sexual assault crimes without fear.
According to the 1996 Human Rights Watch report, the Indian army is using rape as a weapon against the freedom movement. The Bayan Board of Directors reported in 2005 that Kashmiri women are the most sexually assaulted in the world.
As stated by the Council for Social Development, AFSPA plays a central role in inciting Indian soldiers to commit rape. Shab Mathur states that rape is a key component of India's strategy in Kashmir.
The Guardian report indicates that from 1979 to 2020, more than 150 Indian army officers of major rank were systematically involved in sexual assault. On February 23, 1991, soldiers from the 4th Rajputana Rifles raped over 100 Kashmiri women in the village of Kunan Poshpora in the Kupwara district. Furthermore, 53 Kashmiri women testified on March 17, 1991 before the chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir's investigative commission, admitting to being raped by Indian soldiers.
During medical examinations conducted from March 15 to 21, 1991, evidence of torture and sexual assault was found on 32 Kashmiri women.
In 1992, the US State Department report states that there was unquestionable evidence of widespread rape committed by the Indian army during the Kunan Poshpora incident. In an attempt to drive Muslims from the area, Hindu extremists in Kathua, India, sexually assaulted 8-year-old Asifa Bano for seven days in a temple in April 2018. Following the attack, she was brutally killed.
Over 1,000 rape cases are pending in Kashmiri courts.
A BJP leader raped a woman in the Baramulla district, on April 19, 2023.
On 10 October, 1992, 22 Grenadiers' soldiers’ gang-raped 9 women in the Shopian area of the Poonch district.
NGOs that support women's rights and international human rights organizations should hold the Indian army responsible for these atrocities and prosecute them.
