The Jammu and Kashmir with their history of insensitivity and manipulation of their own people have committed a new atrocity today. Violating their own independent constitutional law they have released a 90 page document making public the identities of hundreds of rape victims.
In a country where the ladies are blamed for getting themselves raped such information can be devastating to the victim. It takes more than courage to report such a crime. And when that information is made public by your own leaders, any remaining faith in the Government is lost.
The list is very comprehensive. Not only does it contain names but also their address, parent’s name and tehsil identification. Yes, if you want you can now even find them on Facebook if you want to.
Victims rarely report such crimes and when we talk about Kashmir, a whole new myriad of barriers arise. Many such rapes are committed by the police forces, army personnel and Government officials. Yes I said it ! And with the patriarchal society which views a ladies honor as the honor of the house and even the whole village reporting such crimes could be disastrous.
The Ranbir Penal Code states that personal information of the victim and disclosure of their identity is a punishable offence. If you do want to reveal this information, expresses permission is needed from the victims’ relatives or is she is a minor or dead.
Omar Abdullah has not committed a grave error. Politicians in his stature, of his upbringing and in his position do not make errors like this. This is a signal to the victims and future victims out there. If you are raped by anyone in Kashmir, do not expect any support from the Government. Learn to grin and bear with it because that is what you are supposed to.
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