New Delhi: On Sunday evening, as the sun was setting, a woman from the Bakarwal community stepped out to bring cattle back to her family’s makeshift home on the outskirts of Srinagar. Around an hour later, the cattle returned on their own, with no sign of her.
Restless, her husband decided to look for her. From a distance, he saw a man hit his wife on the head with a log of wood. Yelling, he rushed to the spot, along with others from the community, and found his 35-year-old wife soaked in blood, her clothes in shreds. “She was barely breathing at that time,” the husband told ThePrint over the phone.
While he held his dying wife in his arms, community members caught hold of the accused.
He was among a group of four men, who allegedly raped her. “We immediately realised that she had been raped. The man that we caught was not wearing his pants, and his body was covered with blood,” the husband alleged.
The woman was rushed to a local hospital where she died about 20 minutes later due to an injury to the head. “Then the doctors sent us to SMHS (Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, Srinagar) with the body. A medical test (to ascertain rape) was conducted Sunday evening,” the husband said.
The autopsy was conducted the next morning, and the body was later returned to the family, he added.
Meanwhile, the accused apprehended by local residents was handed over to Nishat police station. Later, the three other men were arrested. All four men in their 40s, according to the husband, are in police custody. They have been charged under Sections 70(1) (gang rape), 109 (abetment), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“Both reports are pending for now, but a case has been filed against the accused. All four of them were Kashmiri locals and involved in drug consumption,” Parvez Ahmed, station house officer (SHO) of Nishat police station, told ThePrint.
The tragedy has sent shockwaves across the community in the Kashmir valley where the Bakarwals migrate to during summers, roaming around the meadows and later returning to places like Reasi, Poonch, Samba, Udhampur, Kathua and Rajouri. The Bakarwals are traditionally into animal husbandry, especially of sheep, goats, and cattle, and follow a transhumant lifestyle, moving seasonally between highland and lowland pastures.
“We are the people of the jungle. We have never even been scared of wild animals and snakes, yet some humans harmed us more than animals ever would,” the husband said.
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‘A societal crisis’
On Monday evening, the woman, a mother of five, was buried in a jungle in Ganderbal district’s Hari Ganiwa, where the Bakarwal community buries their dead since they have no permanent graveyards of their own.
The family had returned to the Kashmir valley from Reasi district on 29 April, as the mercury rose ahead of Bakra Eid.
The husband, who has been living in Kashmir for at least 20 years, said his wife spent days inside the compound of her makeshift home with the children and other women, while he would go out to graze the cattle. He said that his entire focus had been to educate the children, all of whom are still studying—in schools and colleges.
“When she was there, I had nothing to worry about in life. She knew how to take care of our daughters. Now she is no longer there,” he said, adding that his only demand is justice for his wife and strict punishment for the accused. “She was brutally beaten. She was humiliated. I want them [the accused] to know what humiliation feels like.”
Raja Muzaffar Bhat, a social activist from Kashmir, highlighting the issues affecting tribal communities, told ThePrint that the incident has shocked the people of Kashmir.
“This is a clear indication that our society, especially the youth, are going astray and easy access to liquor and drugs is playing a great role in this,” he said.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the incident, in a post on ‘X’ Monday. Calling the incident “tragic”, she said, “Reports suggest she suffered brutal injuries and succumbed en route to the hospital. The police have arrested the accused, who were reportedly intoxicated during the crime.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief also said that substance abuse is “devastating” the youth and fueling horrific crimes like rape and murder. “This tragedy reflects a broader societal crisis. My heartfelt condolences to the victim’s family. I hope the perpetrators face the full force of the law.”
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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