Ajmer court sentences 6 convicts to life in 32-year-old sex case

JAIPUR: Six of the prime suspects in the sordid Ajmer sex scandal that came to light 32 years ago were sentenced to life imprisonment by a POCSO court on Tuesday.

Justice Ranjan Singh of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Ajmer also imposed fines of Rs 5 lakh each on the accused along with their life imprisonment. The Ajmer case, considered the country’s worst sex scandal, had rocked Rajasthan in 1992.

It involved the exploitation of over 100 school and college girls. Most of the victims, aged between 11 and 20, were captured by a gang who lured them into affairs, then photographed them in compromising positions and used the photos to blackmail, rape and sexually exploit the victims.

The POCSO court (number 2) identified the accused as Nafees Chishti (54), Naseem alias Tarzan (55), Salim Chishti (55), Iqbal Bhati (52), Sohil Ghani (53) and Syed Zameer Hussain (60). All the six convicts were present in the court when the verdict was pronounced.

One of the accused, Iqbal Bhati, was brought to Ajmer from Delhi in an ambulance. At the time of the scandal, all the culprits were between 20 and 28 years old.

The sensational case had shaken Rajasthan in the early 1990s. Investigations revealed that the accused had given film rolls to a lab for development. The lab staff leaked the photographs in the open market. Only a few people had the master prints, but their copies started circulating in the city. Whoever got hold of these photographs started blackmailing the girls.

Six girls from the college committed suicide. Amidst public outcry, the then BJP government led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat transferred the case to the CID-CB. Out of the 18 accused, four have already served their sentences.

Four other defendants were acquitted by the High Court. One had committed suicide during the trial 30 years ago.