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| Omar, Mehbooba maintain silence over Talib Hussain's involvement in rape cases | | Are they eyeing tribal community votes, ask critics | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 25: Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have maintained silence over the allegations of rape leveled against Talib Hussain, a Bakerwal activist, who was projected as the "Messiah" of the tribal community by both the leaders for his so-called campaign to seek justice for the Kathua rape-and-murder victim.
When Kathua rape and murder case came to fore both the leaders patted Talib Hussain's back and made every possible attempt to own him so that they could use his influence to seek votes from the members of the tribal community. "Both Omar and Mehbooba tried to play politics over Kathua rape and murder and tried to create a wedge between the communities," alleged an analyst.
He said, "It's strange that both the leaders have not uttered a word since the day Talib's real face has been exposed."
Mehbooba Mufti, who projected Talib as a "hero of tribal community" when Kathua rape and murder case came to fore has maintained silence over his "criminal" activities. "Mehbooba Mufti should speak as she has always maintained that interests of women should be protected. Or she should tell the people that why is she silent?" said an analyst.
He said, " Mehbooba cannot be selective about her condemnation. She has to speak to prove that she is really bothered about the rights of the women."
The analyst said, "On the other hand tech savy Omar Adullah, who has got more than one lakh followers on twitter has not even tweeted once about the victims whom Talib Hussain targeted."
Earlier this year police had arrested Talib Hussain allegedly for raping a woman in Samba district. Hussain was arrested following a complaint lodged by a woman, who is his relative. The complainant had said she remained silent for so long as Hussain had threatened to kill her but she somehow mustered courage and spoke about the ordeal she underwent.
In June this year, Hussain's estranged wife registered a case against him for allegedly torturing her and demanding dowry. He was granted anticipatory bail two months after being arrested, by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in the case.
Recently a student from Jawahar Lal Nehru University has alleged that she was raped by Hussain. "During the days Talib was leading the fight for the Kathua rape victim, he was invited to speak at universities like JNU, AMU, MANUU. He spoke about many issues pertaining to the vulnerabilities of the Gujjar-Bakerwal community," The victim, who has preferred anonymity, said.
She said, "I was one of those students who had invited him (Hussain) to JNU campus. But subsequently, in his personal conversations with me, he proved to be very invasive of personal boundaries. He asked me a lot of questions about my family, my research work, and my political beliefs. I would not have minded any of this had he not abruptly asked me one day to do "nikaah" with him... Often he would call me late at night; while I enquired about his safety... he would ignore my concerned questions and describe his sexual fantasies about me."
The ordeal narrated by Hussain's victims has shocked everyone except the former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. "Both the leaders who hailed Hussain as a hero some six months ago have failed to even express solidarity with the three women victims, who have leveled serious allegations against Talib Hussain. It seems that both the leaders are still hoping that Talib would help them in getting votes from the Bakerwal community. But someone needs to tell them that Talib Hussain's real face has been exposed even within his own community. Both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti should break their silence to save their image," said a politician," he added.
The politician said that Hussain's counsel Indira Jaising, eminent Supreme Court advocate, has disassociated herself from Talib's case as she was representing his family in Supreme Court. His family had alleged that Talib was being tortured in prison.
Jaising issued a statement saying that she does not "intend to continue to appear on behalf of Talib Hussain anymore." In her statement Jaising said: "I have learnt about the allegations of rape by a survivor who is a student at JNU for the first time from the FirstPost article published. Although the survivor has not named the person who raped her, the obvious reference is to Talib Hussain. FirstPost has stated that they have in accordance with journalistic ethics done their due diligence and verified the allegations to the best of their ability which I appreciate."
It may be recalled the JNU student recently revealed her ordeal in an article in First Post. She stated: "On 27 April, he messaged me to say that he would be arriving in Delhi that evening and that I should meet him. I did not want to; instead, I went out for dinner with some of my friends. But he called me and insisted that he would come to JNU itself to meet me... he kept calling me non-stop, insisting that I should return to campus at once because he was waiting outside the north gate for me...He called me 40 times that night (I noted this on my call log the next day). Eventually, I gave in, and went to meet him, ignoring my own uneasy premonition of danger. I asked a friend to drop me outside the JNU main gate; he was waiting in a rented car a little distance away from the gate. He asked me to get inside the car and I obeyed him. After half an hour's drive, at 12:30 AM, we reached a lane in the Batla House locality. My feeling of ominous unease had peaked by now but there was no way I could escape; I found myself in unfamiliar surroundings late at night and the only way forward was in the direction my predator took me. He ushered me into a one-room flat on the second/third floor of a building. I knew what was going to happen next: he would demand sex from me, I would refuse to give consent, and he would end up raping me. My fears turned out to be right."
"That night, mine was NOT a feeble no. I threatened to expose him to all my friends in JNU, I pleaded with him, I even physically wrestled against his brute strength; but my resistance seemed too frail compared to his brutality. I remember crying in pain; but instead, he mocked me, saying "Tum bohot naazuk ho." All the while he raped me, he kept insisting that he would do "nikaah" with me, as if by declaring his intention to marry he would legitimise what he was doing," she wrote.
"I was in great pain after that night; consultation with gynaecologists revealed that I had suffered an anal fissure. The injury remained for at least two weeks; during this time my pain and anger made me muster the courage to confront my rapist and demand that he acknowledge his crime. But his response was typical: he did not INTEND to hurt me, he had made a mistake, and why had I not stopped him then?" she wrote. |
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