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Srinagar, July 10 (UNI) The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in Jammu and Kashmir has held an Army major guilty of raping a woman and her daughter in border district of Kupwara in November 2004 and recommended payment of Rs two lakh as compensation to the victims.

A single bench of Habibullah Bhat passed the judgement in the sexual assault case in which Major B Rehman Hussain of 30 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) was alleged to have raped 30-year-old Aisha Begum and her 10-year-old daughter Shabnum Rasheed at Badra Payeen village near Langate in Handwara area of Kupwara district during the intervening night of November 6-7 in 2004.

The incident had sparked off massive protests in the entire Kashmir valley which continued for several days.

In his order, Mr Bhat held that the incident had sent shock waves in Jammu and Kashmir. Even the International Secretariat of the Amnesty International had requested the SHRC for holding an inquiry into it and sought information about the final result, he added.

The SHRC member said the report submitted to the Commission by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, on April 4, 2005 which established ''true reflection of the unfortunate'' incident.

''The medical report and the inquiry conducted by a Special Investigation Team had established beyond doubt the occurrence of rape inside the house of the victims. The helpless mother and her daughter were brutally-sexually assaulted during the intervening night of November 6-7 in 2004,'' he said.

Mr Bhat ordered that a criminal case against Major Rehman Hussain be presented in a court of law for his immediate prosecution.

The Commission also recommended to the state government, through the Chief Secretary, to pay Rs two lakh as compensation to victims.

''The sanctity of a mother and her daughter has been torn out and their dignity and honour violated by the barbaric criminal act of rape. The accused has insulted the motherhood and inflicted deep non-healing wounds on the women. The stigma of outraging the decency and chastity is so deep that it cannot go away during the entire life of the victims,'' Mr Bhat said.

UNI