https://youtu.be/PEGmOuqzsk8
The lack of accountability for the Indian armed forces in Kashmir, in fact, seems to validate the point the family makes. No Indian soldier has ever been prosecuted in a court for human rights violations in Kashmir since 1990 when a mass rebellion against Indian rule erupted in the region. While at least 75,000 Kashmiri people have been killed, about 8,000 people have reportedly disappeared in custody. Cases of sexual violence against women by the Indian forces and torture abound, not a single Indian soldier has been prosecuted in a court of law.
“Who have the Indian courts given justice to in Kashmir in all these years that they will give us justice now?” asks 16-year-old Bilqeesa Gani, a cousin of the slain boy. “We expect nothing from Indian courts.”
A special impunity law called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) protects the Indian Armed forces serving in Kashmir from coming under even the purview of the Indian civil courts.
Under the AFSPA, "bona fide mistakes" committed while "acting in good faith" by the Indian soldiers in Kashmir cannot lead to "prosecution or other legal proceedings … except with the previous sanction of the Central [Indian] Government."
And last month, the Indian government revealed that between 2001 and 2016, the Defence Ministry received 50 requests for sanction for prosecution against Indian Army personnel from the local government in “India-administered Kashmir”. The sanction, they said, was denied in 47 cases, while three cases were still pending. Seventeen of the 50 cases were related to civilian killings, 16 to custodial deaths, eight to custodial disappearances, four to rapes and molestation.
An Indian soldier cannot be taken even to an Indian court for a custodial killing or a rape in Kashmir, even though rape does not fall in the category of "bonafide mistake".
The Army holds that it tries its officers and soldiers accused of human rights violations in its own internal courts, a claim rendered meek by the notorious Pathribal and Machil cases.
The lack of accountability for the Indian armed forces in Kashmir, in fact, seems to validate the point the family makes. No Indian soldier has ever been prosecuted in a court for human rights violations in Kashmir since 1990 when a mass rebellion against Indian rule erupted in the region. While at least 75,000 Kashmiri people have been killed, about 8,000 people have reportedly disappeared in custody. Cases of sexual violence against women by the Indian forces and torture abound, not a single Indian soldier has been prosecuted in a court of law.
“Who have the Indian courts given justice to in Kashmir in all these years that they will give us justice now?” asks 16-year-old Bilqeesa Gani, a cousin of the slain boy. “We expect nothing from Indian courts.”
A special impunity law called the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) protects the Indian Armed forces serving in Kashmir from coming under even the purview of the Indian civil courts.
Under the AFSPA, "bona fide mistakes" committed while "acting in good faith" by the Indian soldiers in Kashmir cannot lead to "prosecution or other legal proceedings … except with the previous sanction of the Central [Indian] Government."
And last month, the Indian government revealed that between 2001 and 2016, the Defence Ministry received 50 requests for sanction for prosecution against Indian Army personnel from the local government in “India-administered Kashmir”. The sanction, they said, was denied in 47 cases, while three cases were still pending. Seventeen of the 50 cases were related to civilian killings, 16 to custodial deaths, eight to custodial disappearances, four to rapes and molestation.
An Indian soldier cannot be taken even to an Indian court for a custodial killing or a rape in Kashmir, even though rape does not fall in the category of "bonafide mistake".
The Army holds that it tries its officers and soldiers accused of human rights violations in its own internal courts, a claim rendered meek by the notorious Pathribal and Machil cases.
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