covering up such acts. in 2016, kashmiri human rights activist and lawyer parvez imroz has said that a vast majority of cases of sexual harassment by indian forces in kashmir go unreported. rape by security forces has notably occurred in areas of militant presence or activity. it has also happened to women from the gujjar community, who live on the periphery of kashmiri society. according to journalist freny manecksha, who tried to document conflict-related rapes in kashmir in 2012–2013, their remote location has left them more susceptible to sexual violence. aftermath drastic physical and emotional consequences are experienced by the victims. because society believes their honour is lost, the male relations of the rape victim also experience "collective shaming". the conservative nature of kashmiri society means that males are reputed by their communities as having failed in protecting the purity of their women if they have been sexually assaulted. according to molen and bal, "the authorities have deliberately inflicted collective dishonor—and in fact defeat—through appropriating kashmiri men’s control of women’s 'izzat'." according to hafsa kanjwal in sagar research journal of university of texas austin, that since kashmiri society wrongly heaps the blame of rape upon the victims, they continue to experience psychological problems and they accept the idea that they have been shamed and lost their purity. this feeling often leads to not just depression but also to breakdown in marriages, breakup of families and in some cases, suicide. in one example a 16-year-old teenager, hameeda, was deemed to be a "spoiled good" and spurned by her family after an indian army officer raped her in 2004. her marriage also broke down while she sought compensation and due to communal shaming she developed depression. molen and bal observe that there is a societal trend to refrain seeking matrimonial matches in areas where incidents of rape are publicly known. in the villages of kunan and poshpora, there were cases of men spurning their wives after they had been raped by indian soldiers. other husbands, upon encouragement from militants, did take back their wives but would abuse them. one rape victim recounted that her husband considered her "defiled" by another male and still blamed her. in some cases, the relationships of the rape victims with their sons also deteriorated. girls who have not been raped, but are related to rape victims, are also stigmatized by society. rape victims have also reported experiencing taunts from boys. pregnant rape victims often either miscarried or gave birth to children possessing disabilities. journalists eric margolis and isaac zolton have reported that some women who were raped by indian soldiers subsequently fled from indian administered kashmir to azad kashmir. studies have revealed that there has been an increase in the kashmiri nationalist resistance because of the sexual violence and other atrocities, mainly from the indian forces, that kashmiri women have faced. reactions human rights watch stated in its 1993 report that those indian authorities who were shown evidence of rape resorted to denial. the report says that the authorities do not order a full inquiry or prosecute the perpetrators but instead seek to discredit the integrity and testimonies of the witnesses and doctors who provide the evidence. commissioner in charge of magistrates for kashmir, wajahat habibullah, chose to resign after india denied the charges in 1991. in 1993, lt. general d. s. r. sahni, general officer commanding in chief of the northern command, when asked about the charges of rape by the security forces in kashmir, has alleged that the militants "trump up" charges of rape against the forces. he said, "a soldier conducting an operation at the dead of night is unlikely to think of rape when he is not even certain if he will return alive." according to kazi, the indian media has ''displayed unseemly haste in exonerating security forces'' from rape allegations. in 2016, jnu student union president kanhaiya kumar became the centre of controversy after speaking out on the rape of women in kashmir by indian security forces. the bjp youth wing filed a complaint against him, calling him "anti-national". according to the report of human rights watch, the common use of rape by indian security forces in the conflict drew little international condemnation, despite reports in the international press and by indian human rights groups. according to scholar amit ranjan, the indian state has always sided with the perpetrators and not the rape victims and indian society is generally not disturbed by rapes in kashmir due to kashmiri muslims being considered the 'other'. at the same time, ranjan says that the kashmir valley's disputed status between india and pakistan has given it an advantage in that it can receive some global attention. former pakistani prime minister, benazir bhutto, in her address to the fourth world conference on women at beijing in 1995, called the use of rape as a weapon of war in jammu and kashmir ''reprehensible'' and ''depraved''. feminist commentators are critical of the way kashmiri men have addressed the issue of rape. according to kazi, the reaction of kashmiri men to the rape of their women is one of feeling powerlessness and confoundment. but kazi also complains that while yasin malik of the jammu and kashmir liberation front recognises that kashmiri women have been sexually victimised by the indian army, he fails to consider kashmiri society's "torture" and stigmatisation of the rape victims. according to journalist syed junaid hashmi, both separatists and mainstream political parties in kashmir have ignored the rape victims. hashmi says that the state governments order inquiries which turn out inconclusive while the perpetrators receive rewards for their anti-militancy efforts. the separatist leadership's response to the victims is that 'they have lost their honour for a greater cause'. separatist leader shahidul islam commented, "i know by merely giving statements, honour lost by our daughters, sisters and mothers cannot be restored. they expected a lot more from the separatist leadership than what it has been doing, unfortunately we failed in pursuing the cause of our women vigorously." prosecution in 1994, due to the international pressure, some court-martials of soldiers accused of rape were made public by the indian government. in one such case, two soldiers were sentenced to twelve year imprisonment, on 29 july 1994, for raping a village girl in kashmir. however, the authorities refused to prosecute perpetrators of many documented rape cases. according to kazi, of all the human rights violations in kashmir, the least investigations and prosecutions are in the rape cases. in the case of the february 1991 mass rapes in kunan poshpora, the new york times reported that the "indian government issued a statement saying that the sexual assaults never took place." human rights watch also highlighted the fact in its 1993 report that despite the evidence of widespread sexual violence perpetrated by the indian army and paramilitary forces, few of the incidents were ever investigated by the authorities and no prosecution of alleged rapists ever occurred. according to the 1996 hrw report, in many cases these incidents "are never investigated by judicial and medical authorities". according to kazi, this indicates tolerance, if not official consent, of the state to such crimes. according to mathur, the indian government provides legal immunity to its personnel who are accused of rape. skhjelsbaek states that the denial of rape by indian authorities is systematic and the lack of prosecution allows acts of sexual violence to be perpetrated with impunity in kashmir. scholars christine de matos and rowena ward have observed that the official cover-ups follow a pattern of labeling the victims as 'militant sympathisers', questioning the honesty of their claims and persecuting human rights activists and medical personnel who try to assist the rape victims. according to scholars om prakash dwivedi and v. g. julie rajan, the armed forces special powers act (afspa) has enabled the indian military and security personnel to commit war crimes with impunity. the indian military was given special powers under afspa in kashmir in july 1990. human rights groups criticize this law, stating it gives immunity to armed forces personnel who have committed crimes. the army sources maintain that "any move to revoke afspa in jammu and kashmir would be detrimental to the security of the valley and would provide a boost to the terrorists." as per afspa, kashmiris who need to go to a civilian court to press charges against any security force personnel for human rights violations are required to first seek the permission of the indian government. according to kazi, such permission is 'never forthcoming'. the afspa legislation has been described as "hated" and "draconian'' by members of kashmir's state human rights commission. the local judiciary in kashmir is unable to function normally because of the privileges granted to the security forces. according to human rights watch, the military courts in india, in general, were proved to be incompetent to deal with cases of serious human rights abuses and were responsible in covering up evidence and protecting the involved officers. amnesty international in its report in 2015, titled “denied”-failures in accountability in jammu and kashmir, says, "...with respect to investigations, an inquiry that is conducted by the same authority accused of the crime raises serious questions about the independence and impartiality of those proceedings”, adding that according to the international law, an independent authority that is not involved in the alleged violations has to investigate such crimes. khurram parvez remarks that women fear reprisals from the army to file the cases of rape. he says, "this is because there are cases in which when rape was reported, members of their families were attacked or prosecuted." he also states that it would be technically very difficult to prove rape, since the incidents happen in the areas which are completely under the army's control. dwivedi and rajan point out that india's status of being allied with the us and other permanent members of the united nations security council has provided it impunity to carry out crimes against humanity, such as mass rape, in kashmir. this impunity is also because india does not hold membership in the international criminal court (icc). india refuses to join the icc by contending that its own judicial system is competent enough to address war crimes. however, law expert usha ramanathan labels this argument misleading. in 2013, 50 women filed a public interest litigation (pil) in the jammu and kashmir high court in order to reopen investigations of the alleged mass rapes of february 1991 in kunan poshpora. reported cases militants in march 1990, the wife of a bsf inspector was kidnapped, tortured and gang-raped for many days. then her body with broken limbs was abandoned on a road.: 64 on 14 april 1990, a kashmiri pandit nurse from the soura medical college hospital in srinagar was gang-raped and then beaten to death. jammu kashmir liberation front (jklf) took responsibility for the crime, accusing the woman of informing the police about the presence of militants in the hospital. on 6 june 1990, girja tikoo, a kashmiri pandit lab assistant at the government girls high school trehgam, was kidnapped and gang raped for many days. then she was sliced at a sawmill. another women was abducted with her husband in sopore. she was gang-raped for a number of days before they both were killed in november 1990. on 5 may 1990, a muslim teenage girl was tortured for two days, gang raped and shot dead by farooq ahmed dar of the jklf. on 13 august 1990, babli raina, a kashmiri pandit teacher in the education department, was gang raped in her house in the presence of her family and then killed. on 30 march 1992, armed militants demanded food and shelter from the family of the retired hindu truck driver sohan lal baroo in nai sadak, kralkhud. the family complied, but the militants raped his daughter who died as a result of the assault. when he and his wife tried to stop them, he was shot dead. his elderly wife was also raped and shot; she died in the hospital soon after. journalist prakriiti gupta writes that there have been many cases of militants raping the young girls by forcing them into temporary marriages (mutah in islamic law) – these ceremonies are called "command marriages". in 2005, a 14-year-old gujjar girl was abducted from lurkoti