Statement Condemning the Lenient Attitude of Kashmir police and the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee on the case of sexual harassment against Shabir Khan

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the lenient attitude of Kashmir police and the Jammu Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee on the extremely serious case of sexual harassment against former health minister and Congress MLA, Shabir Khan. The Congress party has asked Shabir Khan to resign but he continues to be an MLA, attends assembly sessions and has been granted bail, thus putting the entire investigation in jeopardy. In a recent development, the SHO who was investigating the case has been transferred.

Shabir Khan, was accused of molesting a female doctor and was booked under Sections 354 and 509 of the Ranbir Penal Code. Following outrage over the incident, he was forced to resign as minister on the 7th of Feb but he continues to be a Congress MLA. After warrants were issued against him, he went absconding and applied for bail. In his bail application, he reportedly made a case for himself on the basis of his “nationalist credentials”. After being granted bail, he attended the assembly session while all the mainstream parties maintained silence over his presence in the house.

The Minister called the complainant to his office repeatedly on the pretext of discussing funding for the health centre where she works. After she refused to turn up, she was forced to report to him! His office was full of people but he made her wait in a small cabin. She initially refused to go there but he convinced her to sit in the cabin. Inside the cabin, Khan, who had called her to discuss funding, started talking about a lot of irrelevant topics and then offered her several favors including a plum posting on the condition that she serves him Kehwa in the circuit house- a statement clearly loaded with suggestive phrases. When she tried to leave the room, “the minister made physical advances amounting to molestation”.

It is shocking to see the complacency of the National Conference and Congress coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir on the issue, the reluctance to sack the accused coupled with the decision to transfer the investigating officer in the case. We are strongly concerned about the fairness of any trial that will be conducted in such a situation.We demand that the Congress party should expel Shabir Khan at the earliest and that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should personally ensure a fair trial. It may be recalled that, in the aftermath of the 16th December Delhi gang rape case, Mr. Abdullah had affirmed his commitment to gender justice and he had promised that there would be no leniency in cases of sexual violence, acid attack, etc. It is time to live up to those promises.

The culture of impunity prevailing in Kashmir, with or without the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, is a matter of grave concern for progressive forces. The invocation of nationalist credentials in the bail application strikes us as problematic. Human rights abuse, sexual harassment and rape all go unpunished in the absence of any accountability. On the 23rd of Feb,2014 civil rights groups in Kashmir are observing the Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day in commemoration of the extremely shameful Kunan Poshpora mass rape that took place on 23rd Feb, 1991. Not a single army man has been punished in the case. While extending support to the observance of this day, we condemn the continued occupation of Kashmir through weapons of rape, torture and fake encounter and denial of the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, AIPWA
Akbar Chawdhary, President, JNUSU
Sucheta De, National President, AISA
Shehla Rashid, AISA
Aslam Khan, National Vice President, RYA
Vrinda Grover – Advocate – New Delhi
Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal, Executive Editor Kashmir Times
Basharat Peer, Journalist
Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM
Amitabh Kumar, Head of Media and Communications, Centre for Social Research
Bishakha Datta, Executive Director, Point of View
Lata Pratibha Madhukar, Research Scholar at TISS and CSD, Hyderabad
Akhil Kumar, Sub-Editor, Youth Ki Awaaz
Ravi Nitesh, Core Member- Save Sharmila Solidairty Campaign
Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Feminist and human rights activits, Mumbai
Chinmayee Subash, Free lance development professional.
Mithilesh Pande, Mission Bhartiyam
Chhaya Datar, Ex-Professor at TISS Mumbai
Sabha Husain, Researcher/Women’s Rights Activist
Rohit Kumar Social Activist (FB)
Shahid Ayoub from P G college Rajouri (FB)
Ms. Virginia Saldanha, Woman Activist
Devika Mittal, Mission Bhartiyam
Saheli and Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression
Juhi Jain, Feminist activist and writer, New Delhi
Dr Fayaz Ganaie, Senior Manager (Cargill group)
Dr. Showkat Bashir, Kashmir
Jitender Singh, Post Doctoral fellow, JNU SLS
Rajesh Umadevi, Activist
Roopashri Sinha, Mumbai
Ayesha Kidwai, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Chayanika Shah, Member, LABIA Queer Feminist LBT Collective
Sagari R Ramdas, Hyderabad, India
Dipak Dholakia, Member, People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)
Shipra Nigam, Consultant Economist, Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries
Vasanth Kannabiran, Director,Asmita
Kaveri Indira
Madhuri Jads
Kiran Shaheen, Convenor, Women for Water Democracy
Citizens collective against Sexual Assault, Delhi
Farhana Latief, LLM Student, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Mantasha Binti Rashid, Civil Servant
Khurram Rasool, Journalist
Mir Imaad Rafi, President, Kashmir Foundation for Social Change
Dr Gazalla Amin, Entrepreneur
Firdous Ganaie, Civil Servent
Bincy Mary George, Student, JNU