Justice Next Door: How Kashmir's Village Mediation Bodies are Resolving Disputes Outside Courts

This article was originally published in 101 Reporter under Creative Common license. Read the original article.

Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir: In February 2024, Nusrat Rajib filed a case against her husband, Shakeel Ahmad, a resident of Sadipora Eidgah, Srinagar, in the Budgam District Court. The couple has a six-year-old child. Their relationship had begun to deteriorate due to friction between Nusrat and her in-laws, which eventually led her to return to her father's home in Danas village of Budgam District. Shakeel lived in a joint family, and Nusrat's relationship with his family had not been easy.

As the court proceedings continued for months, the court ordered Shakeel to pay a monthly maintenance fee of Rs 8,000 — an amount beyond his financial capacity. He is a Pashmina artisan who earns between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000 per month. But Shakeel's primary concern was not just the money. He wanted to save his marriage.

On a recommendation, Shakeel approached the Alakia Tasfiya Board, a volunteer body of local arbitrators that settles disputes without court intervention. He filed a simple application, and the board summoned Nusrat and her father to their office. After several sessions of arbitration and counselling, the dispute was resolved. The board facilitated a one-time maintenance payment of Rs 30,000 from Shakeel to his wife. Nusrat withdrew the case from court. The couple now lives together in a rented room in Srinagar and has purchased land where they plan to build a house.

Shakeel said that in court, the focus is often on winning, with little room for rebuilding trust. "This local arbitration resolved our dispute in a way that not only settled the case but also reconnected us," he said.

Nusrat told 101Reporters: "After I filed the case at the district court, I thought the issue would be solved in a couple of weeks. I never thought it would deteriorate our relationship further. When my husband took the case to the Alakia Tasfiya Board, they spoke to me and asked about the issues I faced. My husband assured them that things would be different. After that, the members mediated and I returned home. We are now living in a separate rented room. We are happy and have no issues."

See also: Panic buying of petrol/diesel in Kashmir triggers chaos; Indian Oil Corp says no fuel shortage

What is the Alakia Tasfiya Board

Operating out of a small 12x10 rented room, the Alakia Tasfiya Board is a body of local arbitrators that resolves, mediates and negotiates disputes between parties. Over the last 28 years, it has resolved more than 1,000 cases. The board charges an application fee of just Rs 500, used to cover office rent, maintenance and tea for the parties. Its eight members serve on a voluntary basis and receive no salary.

Once an application is received, they send a qasid or a courier with a summons to the opposite party. The board carries no legal authority, but it commands significant moral authority: its members are respected figures chosen by religious leaders and community elders, and are linked to the local mosque management. Those who do not accept their decisions risk social alienation within the community.

"We have not encountered any case where the opponent failed to appear," said Abdul Qadir Bhat (76), who serves as the board's qasid.

The board assembles every Sunday in its rented room, hearing both sides of a dispute, calling witnesses where needed, or visiting the site of a conflict. Every case has its own file, documented in Urdu, and stored in a trunk. They handle a wide range of disputes: commercial, land, domestic and matrimonial. They also levy penalties and, in cases where reconciliation is not possible, facilitate divorce.

President of the body Abdul Aziz Dar (80) said: "Over the last three decades, we have received cases of different natures, land disputes, property inheritance, family issues and marriage disputes. Most cases involve women. They find our office secure, affordable and accessible."

The reason is not difficult to understand. Courts in Kashmir involve significant fees, long delays and procedural complexity. Local bodies like this one offer an alternative that is faster, cheaper and less adversarial. Dar cited the case of Naseema Akhter, a resident of Watrahail in Budgam district, whose share of family property in Hukhlatri village had never been mutated in revenue records, and whose brother had already transferred it to his sons. A court case would have required extensive documentation and years of litigation. "Because we were already aware of the matter, we were able to resolve it in just a few weeks," Dar said.

A tradition that predates the courts

Across Kashmir, village-level dispute resolution bodies have existed for generations, functioning as the first line of justice long before formal courts became accessible. Most are linked to mosque management committees and are commonly referred to as Awqaaf committees, though they have no formal connection to the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board and operate entirely independently. Their members are typically local residents, respected elders and community figures. 

Two decades ago, such bodies were a feature of nearly every village in Kashmir. While their presence has diminished in some areas over time, they remain active across much of the region. Some are permanently constituted with fixed members; others assemble only when a conflict arises. There is no official registry of these bodies, no formal supervision, and no legal recognition, but their reach is considerable.

Why it matters

According to official data, 3,89,210 cases are pending in the 232 district and lower courts of Jammu and Kashmir, accumulated over the past 30 years until January 2026. Of these, 2,40,718, 62 per cent, are criminal cases, and 1,48,492 are civil.

See also: Three Sopore Men Held While Crossing LoC into PoK; Muzaffarabad Man Claims He Entered Kashmir to Meet Girlfriend

Advocate Javed Hubi, President of the Bar Council Budgam, said courts across India are under increasing pressure. "The number of cases is rising every day while there are not enough judges and courts to handle the workload," he said. In this context, local mediation offers a practical alternative…faster, cheaper, and less damaging to relationships between parties. Hubi said approximately three in ten cases referred to mediation are resolved successfully. He added that even parties who initially refuse mediation often turn to local bodies after three to four years of litigation.

"We advise our clients to legalise through court documents what they have decided in local mediation," Hubi said. "If a dispute arises again on the same issue and it was not documented in court, we have to prove it all over again."

Advocate Tajamul, Government Advocate at the High Court, noted that decisions by local mediation bodies do not hold legal standing in court unless the body is linked to a panchayat or another government institution.

A Naib Tehsildar from a sub-district in Budgam, who requested anonymity, said his office receives a large number of cases, many of which are resolved by village bodies before reaching him. "These village bodies are playing a vital role," he said. "Even when cases come to us after local mediation, we ask the parties to bring the local body to our office so we can hear their decision. In most cases, we follow the same decision or send them back to village mediation."

[KS]

Suggested reading: