Women in Kashmir join #MeToo movement, accuse journalists & politician of abuse

Representational image | Nicky Loh/Getty Images

A Kashmir women’s right body has released a list identifying alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment and abuse, promising a ‘part two’.

New Delhi: An aunt. A lecturer. The boss. The domestic help. The alleged perpetrators of sexual violence entered their lives in different roles, but the shame they left in their wake rings all too familiar.

The tremors of India’s ongoing #MeToo expose have breached the urban milieu to shatter the silence of sex abuse survivors in some of the country’s most conservative parts.

In Muslim-majority Kashmir, women are speaking out, probably for the first time, about the sexual abuse they encounter daily, and calling out the perpetrators who long exploited their fear of stigma.

The Kashmir Women’s Collective (KWC), a women’s rights body, has compiled a list of alleged abusers that has some high-profile names, including a columnist and a TV news panelist, and released it on social media. The list is accompanied by an account of the harassment suffered by each of the victims.

‘Normal conversation’

One of the alleged abusers named is a political analyst often seen on national TV debates, Gowhar Geelani.

The woman in question shared with the KWC screenshots of a conversation with Geelani, saying he had started sending her “weird messages” and calling her up at random hours after she once approached him for help.

“When he’s not writing, he’s chatting up young girls and flirting with girls his daughter’s age,” she told KWC. “On one occasion, he asked me to meet him in private. The saddest part is that when a group of Kashmiri women sits down and talks, Geelani pops up as a recurring name.”

Speaking to ThePrint, Geelani described his conversations with the woman as “normal”, saying they had only talked twice in nine months.

“If telling someone that their earrings are beautiful is wrong, then half the world’s population will be termed molesters,” he said.

In all, three women have accused Geelani of sexual harassment.

Fahad Shah, the editor of The Kashmir Walla, a Valley-based magazine, has been accused of sexual harassment by a non-Kashmiri journalist. However, Shah has labeled the allegations a “concerted vilification campaign”.

The woman told the collective that Shah had once tried to kiss her forcefully, adding, “Fahad can claim that it is a witch-hunt all he wants. After being contacted by girls who’ve studied with him at SOAS (University of London) and from Kashmir, who’ve been in journalism or similar circles, it is apparent that it isn’t his first time and it wasn’t his last time either.

“His patterns are the same,” she added, “He is forceful, doesn’t back down despite repeated nos and likes to paint himself as a victim.”

Two more girls from Kashmir who reportedly worked in Shah’s magazine have come forward with similar stories.

‘Repeatedly, systematically’

Another such case centres on Sameer Yasir, a freelance journalist and former lecturer of peace and conflict studies at the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora. An IUST student has accused Yasir of trying to molest her.

When approached for comment, Yasir refused to give one.

One of the women who spoke to the KWC said she was raped by her family’s domestic help for 13 years, from the age of five, and subsequently sexually abused by an uncle.

Another alleged her boss, a retired engineer with the Union Ministry of Rural Development, “harassed me repeatedly and systematically”.

“[He] Would pass remarks and try to get me alone in a room. Somehow, I always avoided it by making excuses,” she added.

“On a field trip to Gurez, he was in the same car as me and another girl, and two other men. He touched me inappropriately,” she said.

“I was too shocked to say anything but just changed my seat in the car. For this, he stopped my salary… Eventually, I got a legal notice issued to him (as this constituted a breach of contract)… He sent the salary the very next day, and I left the job.”

For yet another victim, the aggressor was a neighbour.

“We have a neighbour (who now has a daughter). He once asked me to sit on his lap and touch him… He still gives me an evil smirk when I visit our old house downtown,” she told KWC.

For a child looking to escape her parents’ fights, the assailant turned out to be her paternal aunt.

“My paternal aunt… used my hand to caress her genitals. I was 4-5 years old… and would sleep next to her when my parents were fighting,” she said.

“She would kiss me. And she would beat me in the absence of my parents, which made me live in fear. I was petrified of her,” she added. “Child sexual abuse is real, and education about it is a must. We need to stop living in denial.”

A woman has shared her experience with Javaid Trali, a political worker and media analyst with the former PDP-BJP government. She alleged that Trali had inappropriately touched her.

Repeated attempts were made to speak to Trali but he could not be reached.

‘More to come’

Mantasha Binti Rashid, a founding member of the KWC, told ThePrint that they would soon come out with a second part of the list. “We have more material… For now, we wanted to put this out,” she added.

Rashid said they did not want the allegations to gain political colour.

“We are wary that this will be seen in the context of the political affiliation of the abusers and molesters. We are not concerned about an abuser’s political inclination, family name or beliefs,” she said. “Abusers come from all spheres of life, even the ones apparently fighting for justice and equality.”