Kashmiri Pandit Girija Tickoo’s Family Still Awaiting Justice- Niece Shares Horrific Incident On Instagram

The Kashmir Files, a film directed by Vivek Agnihotri about the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits leading to their exodus from the valley in 1990 has been a blockbuster in the Bollywood industry. The truth of Kashmir’s Hindus and their suffering has been brought to light through this film.

The shocking incidents and the genocide of the Kashmiri pandits portrayed in the movie have been spine-chilling. One of the most brutal incidents that will give you a shiver is the case of Girija Tickoo who was also a Kashmiri pandit.

After over three decades Girija’s family finally opened up about the incident after the release of the movie. Sidhi Raina, Girija’s niece, shared a sincere post on Instagram where she wrote about how her family still awaits justice for the heinous crime and urged everyone to watch the movie.

While illustrating what happened to Girija, she expressed that the film shows the horrifying nights that her family and every Kashmiri Pandit family went through during that period.

She wrote,

“My father’s sister, Girija Tickoo, was a librarian at a University who had gone to collect her paycheck, on her way back the bus she was travelling from was stopped and what happened next still leaves me in shivers, tears, and nausea. My bua was then thrown into a taxi, with five men (one of them being her colleague), who tortured her, raped her, and then brutally murdered her by cutting her alive with a carpenter saw. Imagine being the brother who had to recognize his Babli, who wasn’t at fault in this gruesome battle of total hypocrisy.”

Raina said that she had never heard anyone from the family speaking about the incident, she added,

“My father tells me every brother lived in such shame and anger that nothing had been done to receive justice for my Babli Bua”

Raina requested everyone to watch the movie, and said,

“This is my plea to ALL of you to watch the Kashmir Files and take your friends and family with you.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Sidhi Raina (@sidhiraina)

The gruesome case of Girija Tickoo

The Kashmiri Pandit, Girija Tickoo was gang-raped and slashed into half using a mechanical saw while she was still breathing. One of the most inhuman and terribly shocking incidents occurred during that period. Regardless of the gravity of the situation, the government took no vital steps and ignored the matter completely.

A Kashmiri Hindu from Bandipora, Girija worked as a librarian in Kashmir Valley at a university. After Yasin Malik led the terrorists of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in the “Azadi Movement”, Tickoo fled with her family and moved to Jammu.

One day, she was informed on a call that the situation is better in the valley and she can come back to collect her salary. The person alleged the area was safe to travel to and assured of safety.

Unaware that the Jihadi terrorists were tracking her movement, Girija came to the valley to collect her salary. In June 1990, she was abducted on her way back home while she was travelling on a bus.

The bus was stopped, and she was kidnapped by the terrorists and taken to an undisclosed location. It is stated that even her Muslim colleague was involved in the abduction and everyone watched her being taken silently.

A few days after the kidnapping, her dead body was discovered on the roadside in horrendous condition. The autopsy confirmed she was brutally gang-raped and tortured. Reports state that the woman was cut into two pieces from the middle of her body using a mechanical saw while she was still alive.

The plight of her family

The government and human rights groups did nothing to bring justice to this heinous crime. No arrests have been made, and no one was even named as the perpetrator. It’s been years but the mainstream media did not publicize her tragic tale. There were no protests, no outcry, and no signs calling for vengeance for the innocent soul.

The only mentions of this heinous crime were on websites dedicated to the accounts of the Kashmiri Holocaust. The incident is also mentioned in the former Congress Cabinet minister Salman Khurshid’s book “Beyond Terrorism- A New Hope for Kashmir.”

The incident has been forgotten and so is the case. Who knows? Maybe there were many other women and girls who were treated worse than this or not in this atrocious manner. It is unfortunate that the people behind these inhuman deeds are still out there roaming freely, without any punishment. We can only pray for the victims who lost their lives and their families that they receive appropriate justice someday.