Kashmir gripped by vice scandal

By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Srinagar

The scandal has brought many protesters out onto the street Enlarge Image

As Srinagar's long-term residents tell you, in Kashmir even a little spark can set off a huge fire.

So what appeared to be a simple prostitution ring involving a "madam" and a few dozen young girls has, within weeks, snowballed into a huge sex scandal.

And among the accused are well-known politicians, bureaucrats, security force officials and senior policemen.

The trouble started in mid-March when a non-governmental organisation handed over a CD containing pornographic material to the police.

The CD showed pictures of a local girl, a minor, probably 15 or 16 years old.

Protests

Ever since the scandal came to light, the Kashmir valley has erupted in anger.

Most of them are poor girls from villages. They're ignorant and they are lured into the prostitution racket by the promise of employment Humaira Kausar, Kashmir University student

The separatist Hurriyat Conference, university students and women's groups have held days of demonstrations.

The state lawyers Bar Association went on strike and also filed a petition in court.

The main accused in the case, a woman named Sabeena, allegedly ran the prostitution racket which involved several underage girls. She has now been arrested by the police.

But that did not stop an angry mob from attacking her home and razing it to the ground.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, wracked by years of militancy, most say they have little faith in the administration's ability to dispense justice and a discredited police force is alleged to be hand in glove with the culprits.

The anti-police sentiments are so strong that the case has been handed over to India's premier investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation. And the state High Court is monitoring the case on a daily basis.

Influential people

On the first day of a hearing last Monday, even the judges did not spare the police.

In a courtroom packed with lawyers and the media, Justice Hakim Imtiaz Hussain made a stunning observation.

Some of the protests have turned violent

"The police are directly hampering the process of investigation," he said.

The second judge, Bashir Ahmad Kirmani, asked the police to produce case diaries relating to the case by the afternoon.

"It should be easy, unless you have to manufacture the diaries," he added, amid peals of laughter from the lawyers and the media.

In response to the criticism, all that Srinagar's beleaguered police chief, K Rajendra Kumar, would say is that he has "full faith in the judiciary".

Most people here perceive the police as the real villains - they allege that senior police officers tried to protect the guilty as they are important people.

In Habbakadal district - where Sabeena lived until her recent arrest - lips are tightly sealed.

Her ravaged two-storey house on the banks of a river looks more like a murky drain.

Well connected

Not one person we approached was willing to talk to the BBC, and the only residents willing to pose for our camera and give names and addresses were children.

Prostitution exists everywhere in the world, in every country, every society. This case is unnecessarily being blown out of proportion Azhar-ul Amin, Srinagar-based lawyer

And then a young man puts it all in perspective. "Everyone knew what was going on here. We'd all seen minor girls entering and leaving her house. But they are all scared to say anything against her, because she was very well connected."

In fact, Sabeena was arrested two years ago on similar charges, but she was soon let out.

Many locals believe that her well-connected clients helped her out. And they say there is a chance she will walk free this time too.

The city air is thick with all sorts of rumours.

Everyone you speak to has a different theory as to who could be behind the racket.

And the mischief-makers show no sign of a decreasing appetite for gossip - lists with names of girls allegedly involved in the racket are being sold on the streets for a rupee or two.

Of course, different lists contain different names.

No one, including the police, has a clue where the names have come from. Many see it as a larger conspiracy to malign Kashmiri women.

In this conservative society, where many women are behind veils in public, the outrage is not difficult to understand.

Tense times

"Kashmir is a closed society," says Mr Azhar-ul Amin, a Srinagar-based lawyer and member of the Bar Association.

"We respect our women. But this scandal is creating an impression outside Kashmir that our girls are available for sex. All the girls of Kashmir are being maligned here. Our sense of hurt is tremendous."

Mr Amin says it is a simple criminal case and should be investigated as such, with the guilty being punished for their crimes.

"Prostitution exists everywhere in the world, in every country, every society," he said. "The case is unnecessarily being blown out of proportion."

But his is perhaps a rare voice of reason in these tense times.

Many conservative Kashmiri Muslims are enraged over the issue

"We want the culprits to be handed over to us and we will dispense justice ourselves - according to Sharia law," one angry young told me in Habbakadal.

Many also allege that some in the mob that ransacked Sabeena's house included her own supporters, and that crucial evidence was destroyed.

So while the claims and counter-claims fly thick and fast, all those girls who were allegedly being exploited by Sabeena seem to have been forgotten.

"Most of them are poor girls from villages. They're ignorant and they are lured into the prostitution racket by the promise of employment," said Humaira Kausar, a Kashmir University student.

Protesters say that the real travesty of justice is that while the girls who are the victims are being named, no one has revealed the names of the perpetrators of the crime.