Srinagar, July 3 -- The first time her husband struck her with a stick, Mumtaz was carrying his child.

She was only three months into the pregnancy, still holding the soft hope of a new life.

The blow came fast and hard, but it wasn't the pain that stayed. It was the silence that followed. No one came to console and comfort her.

What hurt most was the emptiness it left behind.

Her husband, Sajad Ahmad Mir, was her first cousin. He had never wanted to marry her. She had known this even before the wedding. His heart had wandered elsewhere, and so had his eyes.

She had seen him talking to other women on the phone. When she asked him why, he answered with his fists.

One day, she saw him walking with another woman. The street was narrow,...