Ajmer rape case

In 1992, the Ajmer Rape Case was one of India's biggest cases of coerced sexual exploitation.^[1] The incidents occurred in Ajmer, a city in the state of Rajasthan. The scandal involved hundreds of young girls, some college students some still in schools. The news of the scandal broke after a local paper, ‘Navjyoti’ published some nude images and a story which spoke about school students being blackmailed by local gangs. Most of the accused were Muslims, many from the families of Khadims and most victims were young Hindu girls.^[2]

Incident

The blackmail operation was discovered to be a chain of serial offends. A specific group of local influential men were targeting young girls. They would trap one girl and manage to take obscene images. Then they would blackmail the girl into familiarising them to her classmates and friends. Eventually, other girls would be raped, sexually exploited and have their pictures taken. The cycle continued so forth. The gang continued to expand its operations and victimise an increasing number of girls. They photographed the girls in compromising positions, using the images to exploit the victims.^[3]

Investigation

The editor of Navjyoti, Deenbandhu Chaudhary^[4], had admitted that the local law enforcement authorities were aware of the scandal almost since a year before the story broke, but they allowed the local politicians to stall the investigations. Even Choudhary himself was hesitant before running the story, the reason was the perpetrators of the crime belonged to the family of ‘Khadims’. Khadims are the families of traditional caretakers of the Ajmer Dargah, they claim to be the direct descendants of the first followers of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty and hold significant influence in the local communities. The police had stalled the case because the local politicians warned action against the accuse would lead to massive communal tension.

Chaudhary stated that finally, they decided to go ahead with the story because that seemed to be the only way to wake the local administration into action. Finally, the police lodged an FIR against eight of the accused. Further investigations led to 18 men in total being charged and tensions ran high in the town for several days. Most of the accused were Muslims, many from the families of Khadims and most victims were young Hindu girls.

People took to the streets to protest and communal tension grew. A three-day bandh was observed and much subsequent news of the widespread exploitation and blackmail started coming in. Retired Rajasthan DGP Omendra Bhardwaj^[5], who was the deputy inspector general of police in Ajmer at that time stated that the social and financial aristocracy of the accused stopped many more victims from coming forward. Another grim realisation was that many of the victims, being young and vulnerable, had already committed suicide.

What followed next was another saga of political influence and administrative incompetence. The case is still far from being closed. Many victims who were supposed to be witnesses, turned hostile. The stink of social stigma and ostracisation was so bad that girls of the town were generalised as being victims of the gang. The number of victims was believed to be several hundred.

Only a few of the victims came forward. The situation was so bad that prospective grooms, who were supposed to marry girls from Ajmer, would come to offices of newspapers, trying to find out if the girl they were going to marry was one of ‘them’. Anant Bhatnagar, state general secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties and a resident of Ajmer said that people used to say if the girl was from Ajmer, they would need to find out what kind of girl she was.

Trial

According to the police and women-focused NGOs, it was difficult to build a case against the perpetrators, as most victims were reluctant to come forward. However, the photographs and videos used to blackmail the victims helped identify the accused and build the case against them.

Thirty victims were identified in the investigations; out of these, only about a dozen filed cases, and ten later backed out. Only two victims pursued the case. Of the 18 accused who were charged with abduction and gang rape under the Indian Penal Code and Indecent Representation of Women (prohibition), one has since committed suicide. Farooq Chishty, one of the main accused who also happened to be a youth Congress leader, was declared mentally unstable. Farooq Chishty was the president of the Ajmer Youth Congress while two other accused, Nafis Chishty and Anwar Chishty were the vice-president and joint secretary respectively of the city Congress unit. The first judgment came in 1998, after six years of proceedings. The Ajmer District sessions court convicted eight suspects and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Of the remaining eight suspects, Farooq Chishty, a former Indian Youth Congress leader, allegedly became mentally unstable, developing schizophrenia. He was convicted by a fast track court in Ajmer in 2007. In 2013, the Rajasthan High Court upheld the decision though it reduced the period of the sentence from life imprisonment to the period already served by him.

Another suspect, Purushottam allegedly committed suicide soon after he was released on bail on 8 March 1994. However, reports claim he is still alive. Six other suspects, including Sohail Ghani, disappeared and remain at large. Saleem Nafees Chisty was captured in January 2012, but posted bail; no further information is available.^[1][3][6] Another main accused, Alamas Maharaj, is still at large and is believed to be in the US. CBI has issued a red corner alert for him.

The Rajasthan High Court reducing the life sentences of four out of eight to 10 years imprisonment, while maintaining the life sentence for the other four. They were named Moijullah alias Puttan, Ishrat Ali, Anwar Chishty and Shamshuddin alias Meradona. The Government of Rajasthan the decision in the Supreme Court of India where the four had challenged their convictions. In 2004, the Supreme Court dismissed both appeals filed by the state, as well as the convicts. A bench comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice B P Singh said "having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the view that the ends of justice would be met if the sentence is reduced to ten years rigorous imprisonment.".

The memories of the case were brought back when Suhail Chishty, after absconding for 26 years^[7], surrendered at a court on 15 February. Musabbir Hussain, joint secretary of the Anjuman Committee, which oversees the Ajmer Dargah stated that the case is a blot in the city’s history and nobody wants to talk about it.

Victims

The most disturbing part of the horrific case has been the quiet suffering of the victims. After the rape, most victims experienced harassment and threats, with no support from society or their families. According to police investigations, about six victims allegedly committed suicide. Ajmer Mahila Samooh, who tried to take up the victim's cause, withdrew after receiving threats. Small time tabloids were quite a sensation in Ajmer at that time. As if the mass exploitation of hundreds of girls was not enough of a blow to the town’s conscience, many victims were even allegedly blackmailed further by these tabloids and local papers. They had access to the explicit images of the girls, and the owners and publishers sought money from the families of the girls to keep them hidden.

See also

• Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal
• Jalgaon sex scandal

References