Rape of Justice in Shopian
It appears that the Indian State’s mantra, when it comes to dealing with minorities, Kashmiris and the peoples from the Northeast is that “justice must not be done, and it must never seen to be done”.
JTSA condemns the brazenness with which the CBI has given a clean chit to the security forces in the double rape and murder of Asiya Jan (17) and Neelofar Jan (22) in Shopian. The CBI has brashly tried to resuscitate the theory of ‘death by drowning’ as the cause of death of the two young women, proclaiming: “It is a case of drowning. No rape or murder”. All those who questioned the drowning theory had been either successfully intimidated to retract their statements, or victimized or discredited. The CBI, while pleading for discharge of the alleged accused officers—namely, Javed Mattoo (S.P), Rohit Baskotra (Dy S.P), Shafeeq Ahmed (SHO) and Ghazi Abdul Kareem (SI)—has sought to demonise those who defied the diktats of the investigating agencies and had the conviction to stand by truth—doctors, lawyers, activists and civilians—by pressing criminal charges against them. This is a concerted attempt to silence all those who stand for truth and justice.
Following a similar cover up by the NHRC in the case of the Batla House encounter, and the unabated arrests of rights activists in Manipur who were demanding justice for Chongkham Sanjit, it appears that all institutions in our democracy, putatively the upholders of justice, are colluding to create an atmosphere of utter impunity.
JTSA stands with the family of Asiya and Neelofar and the brave people of Shopian who have refused to buckle under intimidation and threats to sustain their movement for justice.
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