Thirty years ago, in 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (the daughter of Prime Minister Nehru) was assassinated by her Sikh body guards. For four days following her murder, the Sikhs of India were subjected to a series of pograms by Hindu mobs. Thousands were killed, particularly in New Delhi. The violence shocked and horrified the country; it was an unexpectedly acute reminder of the horror they had experienced nearly forty years ago, in 1947.

But the attacks of 1984 did more than simply prompt unwelcome memories of the bloody beginnings of independent India. The kind of violence used against Sikhs was so similar to that of Partition, and the most unpleasant attribute of this communal violence once again reared its ugly head: the mass rape and sexual violation of women and girls. Until that time, the history of Partition’s sexual violence had remained unwritten, shrouded as it was in a shameful silence.

This reminder of the peculiar gender-based violence of Partition prompted native and foreign scholars alike to delve into the mostly untapped memories of the common people’s experience of Partition. What they found was a still unhealed wound, one upon which many were still unwilling to speak. Those that did speak often did so hesitatingly, convinced that studying this side of history was a useless endeavor: “What good is it to remember?” What’s done is done, many thought. But some did speak and, supplemented with the occasional archival data, scholars such as Ritu Menon, Urvashi Butalia and Veena Das (amongst others) have begun to uncover the sexual violence of Partition.

During the months preceding and following the official division of the former British Empire, approximately one hundred thousand Hindu, Sikh and Muslim women and girls were abducted and/or forcefully converted and wed. An innumerable number of women were sexually violated. A Fact Finding Organization implemented and funded by the Indian Government lists the deaths, casualties, and abductions of women across the span of a few months. In 1952, G.D. Khosla, the official in charge of this organization, published some of his findings as Stern Reckoning. He relates an interview he had had with a medical practitioner in a Jhang District refugee camps, one of the many such camps that sprung up in both countries at this time. The medical practitioner lists the chief types of injuries he encountered:

“(1) amputation of limbs, hands and forearms, (2) skull and temple injuries, (3) stab wounds penetrating the abdomen and chest, (4) bullet and gunshot wounds, (5) amputation of breasts of women (all of them proved fatal), (6) circumcision wounds performed on the male organs of young men and old men….”

This testimony not only stands as proof of the exceptional violence practiced at this time, but also of its startlingly sexual nature that has remained outmatched before or since Partition. In fact, women have come to be known as the greatest victims of 1947. Women of the opposite community were exposed to rape, molestation, genital mutilation and amputation, and other humiliations, and an estimated 100,000 young girls and women were abducted and taken as domestic servants, sex slaves, converted wives, etc. But women and girls had more to fear than only the men of the “other” community; accounts abound of the hundreds of females murdered (or “martyred,” as these testimonies claim) by men of their own families and communities, in a desperate attempt to “save their honor.”

Despite the astonishing number of females subjected to this sexual violence, there are very few- if any- personal accounts of this violation. While the reasons for maintaining this silence on the matter varies (and is discussed more in Silence), it is likely that a combination of the cultural taboo on discussing sex and rape, and a personal and emotional preference to forget this pain, have contributed to our lack of knowledge on this history. But a number of anonymous and second-hand accounts, as well as literary and thematic works, give us an idea of the depravity to which India and Pakistan’s women were subjected.

In Pinjar (2003), a Hindu bride is abducted by a Muslim man days before her wedding. This scene portrays her abduction and the devestation of her family at her loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1htMey8R8n8#t=3m30s

In 1947:Earth (1998), an adaptation of Partition survivor Bhapsi Sidwai’s novel, Ice-Candy Man– Lenny is a Parsi child growing up in Lahore during the tumultuous years of Partition. Her nanny (ayah) is a Hindu woman with male admirers of various religions; in fact, it is their shared love for Lenny’s nanny that seems to keep these men together as friends. But as the country is divided along communal lines, the group-much like the country- is divided religiously. This scene from the film shows the heart-wrenching finale of the movie as the beautiful Hindu ayah is abducted by a Muslim mob led by “Ice-Candy Man,” the once good-humored Muslim man who claimed to love her. Lenny comments at the end: “Some say she married Ice-Candy man, some say that they saw her in a brothel in Lahore, others that they saw her in Amritsar. But I never set eyes on her again.” These musings capture just some of the horrifying fates of so many women during Partition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEJdS7_RC4Q#t=90m38s

The following are some accounts that address the sexual violence perpetuated against women. None of these accounts are directly related by the women or “victims” themselves, a particuliarity of this subject that speaks volumes of the stigma still associated with being a victim of sexual violation. These accounts are still important for what they inform us about the prevalent fear about rape and abduction, as well as the reality of this misfortune. But it is nonetheless crucial to remember whose voice is really behind these accounts. For example, men relating the stories told to them by their female relatives have a motive to keep silent aspects that might bring shame to their family; they have many reasons to alter the narrative to one that maintains their community honor. Even when the motive is not clear, any account that is not a first-hand account is subject to bias. The male-dominated patriarchy that contributed to the sexual violence of Partition has too prevailed in the telling of this history.

The teacher of the Government High School, Sheikpura, related the story given by his wife and daughter:

“When we left our house and weont on the main road the military collected about 150 of us and took us on one side. They made us sit down and gave us water to drink and some fruits and bisquits which had been looted from a shop. They told us to eat these as our end was near. Then they made us sit in a row and began to kill us one by one. The military carried away some girls in lorries. They wanted to take my daughter away also but she said she would rather be shot. A military soldier pointed his gun at her but it appears that these men were bust looting and carrying away the booty and so my daughter escaped. The killing started from one end of the row and, getting an opportunity, about twenty-five of us form the other side ran and escaped into a narrow lane near the temple.”

(Here the husband continues their narrative for them; whether or not he is telling the truth, or whether or not his wife and daughter are told him the truth, is unclear. It is still an important source, though, for what people believed happened is often just as important as what really did happen.)

“My wife and daughter were separated. My wife took shelter in one house and my daughter in another. My daughter tried to put an end to her life by persuading a lawyer’s son to strangle her. Three attempts were made to do this but my daughter survived though she remained unconscious for a time. There were one or two other girls in this house also and they prepared a pyre with some quilts and charpoys. They spent about two days in this house and during this time my wife joined my daughter. Then the military came and rescused them and took them to Amristsar. My daughter was an Assitant Mistress in th Government High School at Sargodha and was staying with me during the holidays that time.” (Stern Reckoning)

Female interviewed by G.D. Khosla (account of one of 600 girls that were carried away when a train full of Indian refugees was attacked in the Gujranwala Distrct; this girl was later recovered after being kept in a Kashmirian’s house for five days):

“I had 16 tolsas of gold sewn into my under-garments. I requested him not to kill me and offered him the gold which he took and made over to his brother. In the house, the Kashmiri raped me and then suggested that I should marry his nephew Din Mohammad. Owing to the shock and atrocities my brain became unbalanced. A month later Gurkha military came to the village. I was concealed in a Muslim refugee’s house. For some hours the Gurkha military searched for me in vain and went away. Three months later the military came again to the village. Neither the Kashmiri nor Din Mohammad were in the house. I had been concealed in a corn bin. The soldiers were going to leave when a Muslim women told them of my whereabouts. The soldiers returned to the house in which I was concealed and hearing their foot-steps I came out and fell down senseless.” (Stern Reckoning)

[This account is notable in several ways. For one, this is one of the rare accounts of a woman admitting to having been raped; it is possible that the recent shock of the trauma made her more open to discussing the matter. It is also a story of rare humanity in the general deprevation of Partition. We will never know what motivated the Muslim woman to tell the military of this Indian woman’s whereabouts, but it resulted in her rescue and shows that respect for humanity and womanhood does sometimes trump religious fervor. And it also provides another explanation for the silence surrounding this matter. The girl relates that she experienced such shock from all the atrocities that her “brain became unbalanced.” It is entirely possible that many women shared this response, and that their silence is not necessarily one of choice but one of a mind incapabable of dealing with such memories.]

Eyewitness to an attack on non-Muslims in a camp in Mianwali District:

“I, along with my family members and with about two hundred other non-Muslims, was taking shelter in a deserted house. The Muslim mob surrounded us and gave us an ultimatum that either we should embrace Islam or we would be put to death and our womenfolk would be carried away to the villages. All of us agreed to embrace Islam. In spite of our declaration we were all dragged out and our women were molested and disgraced in our presence. They were searched and stripped of their last jewellery and many of them were beaten. On coming out we saw that a big Muslim mob along the military was standing there and women and virgin girls were being loaded forcibly in military trucks. The whole town wore a ghastly appearance and the streets were full of heaps of dead. We had to walk on dead bodies as we went to the mosque. In our presence many young children were dashed against walls. Suckling babies were snateched from the arms of their mothers and torn into bits. Goondas and Muslim mobs with the military were busy in a general massacre and looting. Groups of men were pouring in, carrying rifles, daggers, hatchets and other deadly weapons. We were taken to the house of Haji Abdur Rehman Khan, a Muslim League leader. On all sides the town presented a dreadful scene which we could not bear. The attackers had sacked the whole town. Not a single shop or house, belonging to a non-Mulsim, was left which had not been swept clean. The pillaged houses had adesolate look with the doors wide open as if no one had ever lived in them.” (Stern Reckoning)

G.D. Khosla interviewed some of the abducted women in the refugee camp at Kunjah; the conditions in this camp “beggar[ed] description.”

A young woman of 21, describing her experience:

“I stayed in the camp for two months. Camp life was very miserable. We were given chappatis full of lime and were constantly molested by the soldiers. Maulvis used to come and preach to us against the Indian Dominon. They told us that awe would go to heaven if we lived with them. They said that it was foolish on our part to go to India as flour was selling there at Rs. 5 per seer, salt at Rs. 10 per seer and the difficulties of obtaining cloth were insurmountable. According to them the Sikhs were not allowing Hindu girls to go beyond Amristsar and were raping them and cutting up their hearts.” (Stern Reckoning)

A part of young women who were brought to the camp:

“We reached the camp on the fifteenth day. It was nothing less than hell. The flour was mized with lime and drinking water smelt so foul that it made us ill to drink it. When the Muslims gave us food they taunted us by saying they were feeding witches. Sick children were given wrong medicines and some of them became blind and died as the result of the poisons given to them. The military guards brought their friends at night and molested the young girls in the camp. They pinched our breasts and made indecent jokes; those who were pregnant were shot down. One day a man caught me by my breast and dragged me. When I moaned and wailed he kicked me and left me to weep. A young girl of 14 or 15 sleeping by my side was dragged away and raped. When she resisted they kicked her. Her face in the morning looked as if it had been scratched by a knife.” (Stern Reckoning)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0RammDIs20

A young girl forcibly married to a Muslim named Sultan:

“Whenever Sultan came to know of the arrival of the Indian military he would take me out and hide me in the pits which were covered from above, leaving very little space for breathing air. Thus he deceived the military several times. One day, the military reached the station unawares. Sultan locked me up in the house and went out. The soldiers called loudly that is there was any Hindu woman about she should come out. I peeped out of a window and, seeing soldiers, becamse frightened, but their assurances convined me. I was taken out of the house through that window and brought to Lahore.”(Stern Reckoning)

A young woman of 22 who was travelling with a foot convoy from Lyallpur:

“When I grew up I found myself an orphan. The people with whom I was living sold me to an old man named Tara Singh. He married me for the purpose of having children and paid Rs. 500 for me. He treated me kindly. When the convoy left Lyallpur we all joined it. The military had robbed us of everything before we left our house. First they took away our arms, then our valuables. On the way, I was separated from my people. I saw men being murdered and women being raped on the wayside. If someone protested he was killed. One woman was being raped by many men. I was also raped by three men in succession. A man, at last, took me to his house and kept me there for eight days. He treated me in a beastly manner. He subjected me to physical torture, forced cow bones into my mouth so that I should be converted to Islam, and, when I objected, he trashed me and made me lie under his bed. He put my hands under the charpoy legs and say down on it to say his prayers. He asked me to repeat the prayers while I suffered agonies of pain. When I could not pronounce the words he uttered, he threatened to shoot me with his gun. After eight days of this torture, the military recovered me. I was taken to Amritsar and then brought to the Gandhi Vanita Ashram.” (The Lady Fact Finding Officer who took the statement of this unfortunate woman noticed that the extent of her suffering had unbalanced her mind) (Stern Reckoning)

A young girl of 12 years gave this story:

“The news of the communal troubles in the cities used to frighten us, but th vilalgers always said, ‘Let us wait till the 15^th of August and then we will go away.’ Trouble came to the neighbouring villages and then my relations collected a group of people and we came out of the village. We had gone only a little way when a Muslim mob attacked us. I was stabbed in five places. Many people were killed and many ran away. I was separated from my parents. When I recovered my senses I saw two boys of my age lying near me and eight or nine dead bodies. The boys and I were bleeding. We got up and started going towatds the village. A Muslim, Wazir by name, caught me, took me to his village and left me with his sister. I did what his sister told me while Wazir used to out to attack other villages. Wazir then sent me to his relatives in another village. I became ill and the women in that house were kind to me. His first wife told me privately not to obey the priest even if I were beaten or threatened. I did what she said nad when the priest went away the man gave me a good beating. The old man came to my bed, scratched my face and removed my clothes. I cried out for help to the mistress of the house, but the man did not listen to her. She then brought her son, and, hearing his voice, the old man left me. After a few days the old man’s son sent me to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Lahore with a Muslim, but that Muslim took me to Lahore Jail where many Hindu girls were living at that time. In the evening the wife of Anwar, a Muslim, took me to her house. She had two more girls staying with her already. All three of us used to sleep in one room. Anwar’s wide told me that she would marry me to her son when he finished his studies. He was then reading in the ninth class. I stayed in this house for two months. My father was looking for me in Lahore. The military one day came and surrounded the house and rescued me.” (Stern Reckoning)

These are only a few accounts, and there are hundreds of thousands of women who shared similar experiences during the years surrounding Partition. Although women and girls have been the victims of sexual violence throughout space and time, the pervasiveness and sheer brutality of the violence witnessed and experienced during Partition is something nearly otherworldly and demands explanation. In Women: Symbols and Targets, some of the prevailing arguments of scholars of this subject are presented.