Women in Kunan village of this district, where an army unit is alleged to be involved in mass rape in 1990, adopted two different approaches to the polling on Tuesday as a group sat on protest seeking justice while a large number of the fairer sex exercised their democratic right.
Women also outnumbered men in casting votes in today's polling. A group of 40 women, among the families of the victims, held a sit-in outside the polling booth 54-Kunan and blocked its entry.
Carrying black flags and raising slogans seeking justice, the women sat at the gate of the booth early morning and the voters had to use an alternate gate to enter the polling station to cast votes.
Polling had to be briefly halted in between as a pandemonium broke out when police asked the women to disperse. Even as the protest continued, in an irony of sorts, the women of the village outnumbered the men in casting votes.
At around 2 pm, out of the total of 890 votes in the booth, as many as 390 votes had been polled. The number of female votes, 215, was far greater than that of males – 175. In the nearby Poshpora village, more than fifty per cent voters had cast ballots at a polling booth of a total of 800 votes.
494 votes had been polled till around 3:15 pm, with women outnumbering men by casting 280 votes. Many women were seen clad in 'burqas' (veil) waiting for their turns.
"We know that justice has not been done to the victims, but we cannot sit at home doing nothing and wait for something to happen. We have to make something happen and that will only happen when there is some change," a women, who did not wish to be named, said.
She said her vote was not for development but for seeking a change and for justice to their village in general and for the victims in particular. The people in the village said voting for them was a "compulsion" as the area was very poor and needed development.
"We are very poor and it is a compulsion for us to vote to seek development. Our village lacks development... Electricity is very irregular and there are so many other problems that we face. In order to get rid of those problems, we have to vote and select a candidate who addresses these issues," Ghulam Ahmad Dar (63) said.
Dar said those who voted were not against the victims' families, but since the representatives so far had failed to deliver justice, "change becomes imperative".
"We are not against them (victims' families). We too want justice for them. But as our representatives so far have failed to deliver, we seek change as it has become imperative," he said.
Dar expressed hope that a new government will fasten the process of delivering justice in the case so that the victims get a sense of closure. "We are hopeful of getting justice under a new government. We want a total change and justice for the victims and our area," he said.
In both the cases -- by protesting peacefully and by the means of casting their votes -- the people in the villages of Kunan and Poshpora may have sought justice by different means, but it is the democracy that won the race in the end.
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