For two months, Fatima Begum, 55, has mourned her daughter’s death. Her cries echo loudly, surrounded by relatives and neighbors in the Soibugh neighborhood of Budgam district on the Indian side of Kashmir.
On the morning of March 7, Begum’s 28-year-old daughter Aarifa Jan left her family’s home for a computer training center located a few hundred meters away. When she failed to return that evening, the family filed a missing person report with the local police.
“We were unable to reach her, as her phone appeared to be switched off,” Mazoor Ahmad Malik, Jan’s maternal uncle, told VOA. “Police called a few people [in] for questioning the next day to probe the missing complaint,” he added.
Two days later, Malik said, police intensified their investigation. An acquaintance of the family, identified as Shabir Ahmad Wani, was interrogated after Jan’s phone records were obtained to help trace her whereabouts.
“He said during the interrogation made-up stories to save himself, but police carried out the investigation during which he [admitted to killing] my niece,” Malik said. “The criminal turned out to be a well-known carpenter in our village,” he said.
“To hide his crime, he chopped the body into multiple pieces and buried them at several locations in and around his vicinity,” Malik added.
Crime against women rising
In the past couple of years, the Indian side of Kashmir has experienced a surge in violence against women, including murder, rape and physical assault.
India’s National Crime Records Bureau reported that the region saw a 15.2% growth in crimes against women in 2021. The report, as summarized in The Hindu newspaper, said 3,937 cases were reported in 2021 compared to 3,405 cases in 2020 and 3,069 in 2019.
Romaan Muneeb, a lawyer who deals with crimes related to women, believes the rise is caused by several factors, including a lack of awareness about women’s rights, drug abuse and a lack of seriousness in upholding laws by authorities.
“The crime rate in Kashmir may not be as high as in other parts of India, [but] it is crucial to raise awareness about the laws implemented by the Union of India to protect women,” Muneeb said. “Failure to do so will likely result in an increase in crimes against women,” he added.
Nisar Ahmad Chiloo, a resident of the Eidgah neighborhood of Srinagar, has packed his and his daughter’s luggage in order to visit Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, for her further treatment.
On February 1, 2021, 25-year-old Tamana, whose name has been changed to protect her identify, was on her way home from work when two men riding a scooter intercepted her and threw acid in her face.
“We have had a tough time since that particular day,” Chiloo said. “So far, she has undergone 25 eye operations and two on her face at two different hospitals in Chennai,” he told VOA, adding that his entire family has yet to recover from the incident.
Both of the men responsible for the crime are in police custody, Chiloo said. One of the attackers was his daughter’s former fiance.
“We called off the engagement after we discovered that he was not a good person, as he used to take my daughter's hard-earned money and gold ornaments,” Chiloo said.
“The crime he committed was the result of our refusal to continue the engagement,” Chiloo said adding that his daughter turned out to be brave and is determined to ask for capital punishment in court.
Mir Sabeen, 33, from Srinagar, told VOA that she had to return to her parent’s house along with her son after she was victimized by her in-laws and husband soon after her marriage.
“For three years, I bore everything. But once I felt unsafe, I returned to my parents’ home,” Sabeen said. “I filed a police complaint, as well, but nothing happened,” she added.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Shafi Khan, the father of Aarifa Jan, appealed to the government to award death sentences to everyone who has committed gruesome crimes.
“Life imprisonment is not a solution to put a brake on rising crimes. Rather, it inspires others to commit more and more crimes," he said, adding, “Capital punishment will not erase the pain in our hearts but will provide us some satisfaction that the criminals are no longer alive."
