The Kunan Poshpora Tragedy: One of the Darkest Chapters in Kashmir’s History

The night of the 23rd of February 1991 witnessed a brutal tragedy unfolding in the two twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir administered by India. What happened that night is one of darkest marks in Kashmir’s history — a horrific case of mass sexual violence committed by troopers of the Indian Army’s 4th Rajputana Rifles under cover of a “cordon and search” operation. More than 30 years later, justice is still buried by the same state mechanisms, legal loopholes, and entrenched culture of impunity. However, human rights activists and civil society organizations continue to fight for accountability, keeping the memory of Kunan Poshpora alive and far from being forgotten or erased.

Background and Context

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed rising militancy for independence or accession to Pakistan in the late 1980s and early 90s. The Indian state’s counterinsurgency response took the form of large-scale crackdowns, enforced disappearances, and custodial killings — and, in numerous documented instances, as a means of repression and sexual violence.

Into this climate of hostility, the two villages of Kunan and Poshpora were explicitly on the radar of a search operation  during one cold night on the 23rd of February, 1991. The Indian Army claimed that it was acting on intelligence reports saying there was an alleged presence of militants in the area. But survivor testimonies and independent investigations say the night devolved into a horrifying episode of mass rape and torture, with no militants to be found.

The Incident

Survivors describe soldiers removing men from their homes and subjecting them to savage questioning and torture. Women, young and old,  were raped, molested and humiliated inside their homes. The number of rape survivors could be as low as 23 — or more than 100 — and most may be unwilling to report what happened to them for fear, coercion, and stigma.

Many incidents and attempted rapes were first reported as crimes by some of the families of the survivors but met with institutional indifference. A police complaint was lodged, but local authorities quickly closed the case, citing a “lack of evidence.” Official commissions of inquiry, including one by the Press Council of India, found the allegations to be ”baseless propaganda.” The state apparatus swung into action to minimize the incident, quell dissent, and silence the voices, ensuring the affair did not catch the general public’s attention. The brutality of the Indian soldiers took the lives of many young and middle-aged women who could not bear the loss of their honor, and some of them even attempted suicide. Additionally, Indian soldiers forcibly separated men from their families, subjecting many to brutal torture, and some were also killed.

Consequences and the Cover-up

Unlike earlier efforts at suppression, the incident did not go away. In 2013, decades after advocacy had begun to review the case, survivors petitioned the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to reopen it. A reinvestigation was ordered, but the legal process was contaminated from the outset by delay, bureaucracy, and deliberate torpidity. The Indian Army has consistently denied the charges, alleging they are a cooked-up effort to sully the army’s image.

It was a serious impediment in delivering justice in the form of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). This provides security forces with immunity unless the central government gives clear sanction for any prosecution in conflict zones. Such blanket immunity prevented the judicial process from functioning in the case of Kunan Poshpora, even when the survivors tried to seek legal redress.

Activists and Organizations

In the years that have passed, human rights activists, feminist groups and other forms of legal advocacy organizations have continued to campaign for justice. Among the initiatives that helped to relaunch the case in 2013 and so to reopen the case in the public engagement once again was the Support Group for the Survivors of Kunan Poshpora. These women’s rights organizations, among them the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), have countless times demanded reparation, repeatedly testified, have sued and generated international awareness.

This was an extraordinary fight, and for which it was an extraordinary moment, involving the book Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora? (2016), by five Kashmiri women scholars and activists. It documents the survivor testimonies and the large scale cover up, in great detail; the book also includes the legal fight that’s since continued. The book challenged official narratives and brought back public attention to the Kunan Poshpora case by its in-depth treatment of the Kunan Poshpora case in the context of gendered violence in war-torn regions.

Challenges and the Road Ahead

On the path to justice for the Kunan Poshpora survivors there are many hurdles to be removed. Much of the evidence has deteriorated over the years and of witness memories. The Kashmir region is also a militarized and repressive socio-political centre, where any legal redress is looking historically unappealing.

However, activists are still resolute in the fight for justice. India, on the other hand, is not willing to disclose its account of Kashmir at the global level from the human rights perspective and as such, the international human rights bodies are demanding independent investigations. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) have all repeatedly urged the Indian government to independently investigate allegations of torture and rape committed by Indian army soldiers.

Conclusion

Kunan Poshpora is not just an episode of mass sexual violence — it is a rallying point of wider story of sexualized violence as a weapon of war and of culture of impunity in places of war. It also symbolizes the survivors’ extraordinary courage and resilience, which has survived a relentless state onslaught. If justice is not to be the reality of today, their continued activism will ensure the world does not forget their suffering.

For the Indian state, Kunan Poshpora is a point of moral cowardice that urgently requires accountability as to not become normalized — just as the global society must do these very things with sexual violence in conflict. That unwarranted violence on the fateful night in February 1991 remains an unhealed scar in Kashmir’s history. Unless justice is served in this case, the scar will remain forever.