Gousia Islam canvassing for votes. (Saleem Altaf)

Srinagar, Nov. 16: If Gousia Islam wins from Bandipore, it could be bad news for several Kashmir VIPs. She wants to put them behind bars.

The 25-year-old divorcee’s targets are the influential people who have been accused of sexually exploiting young women.

Gousia is one of only three women among the 102 candidates contesting the 10 Assembly seats bound for polls tomorrow, the first voting day of the seven-phase state elections. She has floated the Garib Nawaz Party but has registered as an Independent.

Pitted against senior politicians from the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, and with a former minister in the fray in Bandipore, her chances look thin. That doesn’t deter her from travelling house to house, asking for votes.

“I want to expose the people who sexually exploit girls in Kashmir,” Gousia tells the voters.

“My cause is sacred and I have formed a committee that is preparing a list of the people involved in exploitation. We will forward it to the governor for action or make it public.”

Gousia says a personal tragedy motivated her to contest the polls but is reluctant to discuss it. “All I can say is that I have suffered myself. If I win this election, I will be in a better position to take on the vultures who have corrupted our society.”

She had quit studies to marry but separated from her husband last year after a bitter dispute. “Before joining politics, I took up studies again. I am doing a graduation course in political science.”

Sex rackets were uncommon in Kashmir but a spate of such scandals has rocked the Valley over the past two decades.

The most high-profile was the Srinagar sex scam of 2005, in which several senior politicians, bureaucrats and police officers were accused of exploiting minor girls. Many were arrested and the case was handed over to the CBI.

All the accused are out on bail and most of the tainted politicians plan to contest the current elections.

The scandal is almost forgotten; it finds no mention in the political parties’ campaigns. But Gousia is determined to go ahead with her mission.

Canvassing is not easy amid a poll boycott call from the separatists, and Gousia has been given a campaign escort of eight policemen.

She starts her day walking down the streets in volatile Bandipore, visiting homes, handing out pamphlets and asking for votes.

“Everything is in the hands of God,” she says.

Gousia is not the only woman candidate seeking justice. Hundreds of miles away, Shilpi Verma is fighting for a different cause.

She is the widow of Kuldeep Verma, a young man who committed suicide at the height of the pro-Amarnath agitation in protest against the revocation of the land allotment. His death fuelled the movement in Jammu.

Shilpi is contesting on a BJP ticket from Bishna and is riding a Hindutva wave.

“I will carry on the legacy of my husband and complete his mission. He was a true nationalist who laid down his life for the country,” she says.

The mother of two also wants to fight the alleged discrimination against Jammu.