Where are the FIRs? 3 decades on J&K Police hasn’t moved on killings

By Deepika Bhan

New Delhi, March 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) For any crime committed, the basic that the police is expected to do is file an FIR. It is the fundamental duty of any state and its police to act on any act of crime. But, when it comes to Kashmir, all the basics seem to dither.

Hundreds of people from the minority community were killed by terrorists, many women were raped and murdered, kidnapped, assaulted, many houses looted and burnt, many temples desecrated.

There is no concrete official number. The Kashmiri Pandit community leaders say that over 700 people were killed, but figures on rapes, assaults, kidnappings etc. are not recorded.

One of the most talked about political killings in Kashmir is of Tikalal Taploo. His son Ashutosh Taploo, who after fleeing from Kashmir settled in Delhi, says that no FIR was ever registered and he never got the death certificate also.

Sushma Shalla Kaul's father Pandit Chuni Lal Shalla was kidnapped, tortured and shot dead in May 1990. He was a CID officer posted in Baramulla in Kashmir and it was his PSO who betrayed him.

"I remember they had told us FIR was done," said Sushma.

"Last year when Sushma tried to enquire about the FIR, she found the number never existed. It was a fake case file number that she had been given. Since then, she has been demanding the number, but officially she has not been conveyed anything. I got the case file number, which was a new one, unofficially.

"The police have not given me anything officially and there is no progress in the case. I am not even sure whether the number that I have been given is the real one or not," says Sushma.

Ramesh Mota, originally from Srinagar's Habba Kadal, claims that he has no FIR of his father's murder. His father, Omkar Nath Mota, was a businessman, who was gunned down in his ancestral home in Kashmir's Pampore district.

"We had huge property -- four houses and six shops, huge lands and a house in Pampore. My father was killed on July 29, 1990 in our Pampore home. Four terrorists broke into our home and he was shot. They also looted our house, took all the money. I was in my teens and my sister was just 8-year-old. There was no help. It was very bad then.

"I remember some wireless message was given by the police that time but as far as I remember, there was no FIR. I don't even have the death certificate of my father. All our property in Habba Kadal was grabbed by Awqaf people for building a masjid," Mota said.

Naveen Sapru (29), a telecom engineer was shot dead in broad daylight near Kanya Kadal, Srinagar, on February 27, 1990. The reason of the attack was not known, the killers never arrested and no FIR ever done.

"My uncle was shot multiple times on a busy road. The terrorists danced around him and did celebratory firing to scare any helping hand. There were many eye-witnesses who told us about the gory details, how the terrorists wanted him to bleed to death, when uncle demanded water, his face was thrust in drain... he could have been saved. He bled to death," said Rohit Kak.

"Sapru was a gentle man; he never even used to raise his voice. We later came to know that he was killed by Bitta Karate, a JKLF man," added Kak.

On being asked why FIR was not filed, he said, "I was just 12 years old then. But I remember the situation those days was not such that one could approach the police and get help. In fact, we always suspected that the J&K policemen were in cohorts with the terrorists. If someone approached the police, there was fear of retaliation from the terrorists."

Sanjay Kak's father, Bansilal Kak, 53, was an executive engineer in the J&K government and had a good rapport with his Muslim colleagues.

"On August 25, 1990, a colleague of my father took him out of the office in Anantnag on some pretext and he never came back. My father was shot dead. I still don't know why. I don't know if there is any FIR. I got nothing from the J&K Police. I was young then. My mother had also died and my father was killed. It was devastating," he said.

He added that there was no one to guide him as everyone was struggling. "I didn't know anything. Later I went into depression. There was this fear also. So, I could never pursue the case. The police didn't do anything. Don't think we have any records now."

Like Sushma, Sanjay Kak, Ashutosh Taploo, Ramesh Mota, Rohit Kak, there are several such cases where the families were forced to flee after their near and dear ones were killed in Kashmir.

There are hundreds of such cases where complaints could not be filed and FIRs registered.

Sushma said, "After Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee, they had nothing with them. So immediate concerns were food, shelter, clothes and then education for their children and the looming fear. Nobody could go back and file cases or pursue them. Besides, the atmosphere was totally hostile, the police and administration had abandoned us."

The number of those killed and those who fled the Valley is disputed while rape and gang-rape numbers are not recorded. In many cases of murders, even the FIRs were never filed and even in those where cases were lodged, the movement has been a near nil.

While the community says that around seven lakh KPs were forced to flee, and the number of killed is over 700, no J&K administration and even the Centre has done anything to get the actual figures.

The community leaders have been pleading for a probe to unravel the faces behind the holocaust, but the successive governments have not paid any heed.

Three decades after the mass exodus, none of the successive governments at the Centre or the state, set up a commission or formed an SIT to probe the exodus. When over lakhs of people are forced to leave their lands, isn't the natural course for any government or the top legal institutions to investigate? Unfortunately, in this case, no probe has ever been ordered, no commission ever set up and no sincere effort made to bring justice to the persecuted.

According to an estimate by a local organisation, Kashmir Pandit Sangharsh Samiti (KPSS), which carried out a survey in 2008 and 2009, 399 Kashmiri Hindus were killed by insurgents from 1990 to 2011 with 75 per cent of them being killed during the first year of the advent of terrorism.

An RTI filed last year said 89 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in attacks since inception of militancy in 1990. The numbers are disputed because many Kashmiri Pandits could not get FIRs filed and have no police record.

On March 23, 2010, the then J&K Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla told the Assembly in Jammu that "219 Pandits were killed in Kashmir from 1989 to 2004".

As the families of the victims could not go back to Kashmir to file or pursue the cases, voices are now emanating that steps be taken now.

Delhi High Court Advocate Ramesh Wangnoo said, "Although in normal circumstances maximum 3 years the FIR can be lodged, but in reality, the Indian criminal law nowhere defines the limitation to file an FIR. In the past, even after 15 years an FIR was lodged by one person, but he had evidence and so the court accepted it. In case of Kashmiri Pandits, it was an en masse murder and rape of women and loot happening and if any organisation takes that up... the courts may consider, or the government can form SIT or judicial commission."

"Even if any organisation or human rights commission or Kashmiri organisation takes up this serious issue even now then some justice could be given to these unfortunate Hindus. As Kashmir Files is the real story which can be treated as evidence beside other evidence with Kashmiri Pandits," said Handoo.

With no concrete records about the killings, lynching, rapes, kidnappings, assault, loot and arson, the community is on the verge of losing 'proof' of atrocities committed against them.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)

Source: IANS