Army Major Faces Court Martial Over Rape Charges

Author: 
Mukhtar Ahmad • Arab News
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2004-12-19 03:00

SRINAGAR, 19 December 2004 — The Indian Army has ordered general court martial proceedings against a major allegedly involved in the raping of a mother and her 12-year-old daughter in north Kashmir last month.

Defense authorities in Kashmir ordered the court martial proceedings to be headed by a brigadier against Maj. Rehman Hussain who was in the eye of a storm following reports that he had raped a mother and daughter in the north Kashmir Badra Payeen village near Handwara last month during the course of a search and seizure operation there.

“The court martial proceedings will commence at Uri on Dec. 20 and Brig. Syed Ata Hasnain will be the presiding officer. The proceedings will be transparent,” an army spokesman said.

Residents of Handwara area staged protests after allegations the pair were raped in November when male family members were ordered out of the house on the pretext of soldiers wanting to search the premises. Army and civil authorities in Kashmir investigated the alleged rape and the government sent the pair for medical examinations, the results of which have not been revealed.

Human rights groups have long accused India’s security forces of abuses in Kashmir, including violence against women, in their fight to crush insurgents battling Indian rule in the region.

The army denies carrying out systematic abuses and says anyone found guilty of such crimes is punished. Indian-administered Kashmir has been in the throes of an insurgency since 1989 that has so far left more than 40,000 people dead by official count. Separatists put the figure at between 80,000 and 100,000.

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