1992 Ajmer Sex Scandal Case: POCSO Court Sentences Six More Accused to Life Terms

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court has sentenced 6 more accused in the infamous Ajmer gangrape case 1992 with life term.

The men were sentenced for their involvement of rape and blackmail of over 100 girls. The court also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on each of the accused.

According to the prosecutor Virendra Singh Nafees Chishti, Naseem alias Tarzan, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, and Sayed Zameer Hussain were sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in the Ajmer sex scandal, which came to light in 1992.

The members of the gang befriended school-going girls in the age bracket of 11 and 20 years and shot pictures of them in compromising positions and later raped them.  There were 18 accused in the case and the first charge sheet was filed against 12 accused.

Among the accused was Naseem alias Tarzan who absconded in 1994 while Jahur Chishti was found guilty under Section 377 (unnatural sex), and his case was transferred to another court.

One other accused Farooq Chishti was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 while one of the accused committed suicide.

The remaining eight accused were handed life imprisonment in 1998.

A separate second charge sheet was filed against Nafees Chishti, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, Sayed Zameer Hussain, and Almas, who remains at large

The other five accused which included Nafees Chishti, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, Sayed Zameer Hussain, and Naseem alias Tarzan who were named in the first charge sheet and were at large were sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday.

The remaining accused who were sentenced to different jail terms had either completed their terms or been acquitted by the courts.

The chief prosecutor revealed that a separate trial was conducted for the six remaining accused because their investigation was pending at the time of the first charge sheet.

Faroq Chisti who is the prime accused had held the post of Ajmer Youth Congress while another accused Nafis Chisti was the Vice President of the Ajmer Indian National Congress.

Anwar Chisti held the post of Joint Secretary of the Ajmer National Congress.

The involvement of the accused who were well-connected politically made the investigations by the authorities even more difficult.

The scandal was first exposed by a local newspaper which in an article detailed the sexual exploitation and blackmail of school girls using compromising photographs of the victims as tools of blackmail.

The perpetrators of the crime wielded considerable clout in the religious, political, economic and social spheres.

The revelations considerably impacted government officials, the police and members of the social and religious organizations in Rajasthan. Many of the accused were associated with Khadims or the caretakers of the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Dargah.

Police also suspected that many high-ranking politicians and officials were also complicit in the scandal and the police were reluctant to take action fearing potential unrest.

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