The 1992 Ajmer serial rape and extortion case is considered one of India’s most scandalous crimes. Hundreds of young girls, some college students and some still in school, were implicated in the scandal, which took place in Ajmer, Rajasthan. Local newspaper Navajyoti revealed the scandal after publishing some nude photos and reporting that school students were being extorted by local gangs. During the investigation of the case, the police succumbed to political pressure as the main accused Farooq Chishti was the president of the Indian Youth Congress in Ajmer and a Khadim of Ajmer Sharif Dargah. Courts eventually brought charges against 18 serial offenders; four of the eight were acquitted in 2001 after being sentenced to life imprisonment. Many comparisons have been drawn between the case and the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal that took place in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, northern England, from the late 1980s to the 2010s.
Incident that shocked Ajmer
In 1992, a group of influential local men targeted college-going girls for sexual exploitation and then blackmailed them. Most of the victims were from Sophia High School in Ajmer. The girls behaved in disgusting ways and were even raped multiple times. The incident was reported in the media, bringing a stain on the city that hosts the famous Ajmer Sharif Dargah and is home to Sufi saint Khwaja Munuddin Chishti’s mysticism and philosophy synonymous with.
Ajmer Sophia Higher Secondary School
first victim
The first victim, a girl from Sophia High School in Ajmer, was reportedly a victim of the main accused Farooq Chishtee, who implicated her in His trap. Farooq Chishti started blackmailing the girl after taking obscene photos of her.
Farooq Chishtee, key accused in 1992 Ajmer rape scandal
modus operandi
Girls are blackmailed for clicking inappropriate photos, and gang members use their victims as bait to rope in friends, creating a chain reaction. After the first girl fell victim to main accused Farooq Chishtee, he forced her to befriend other classmates. The other girl would eventually be raped, sexually exploited, and photographed in a farmhouse, and the cycle continued. The gang continued to expand its operations, resulting in the victimization of hundreds of girls in Ajmer. According to sources, most of the crimes took place in a farmhouse in Ajmer.
It all starts with a love affair
According to reports, the root cause of this sensational sex scandal is an affair between a Class IX girl and a boy from a wealthy local family. Later, a group of the boy’s friends took obscene photos of the two and used them to blackmail the girl into introducing them to her classmates. According to reports, since then, the gang’s activities have expanded to nearly 200 female students and college students.
Media reports and investigations
One sleepy morning in April 1992, the city of Ajmer woke up to a report published by Deenbandhu Chaudhary, editor of Navajyoti, a local newspaper in Ajmer. This report exposes a system of deception and exploitation. Chaudhry said local law enforcement delayed the investigation despite knowing about the scandal a year before it broke. He said local politicians had tried to block legal action, claiming the accusers were from influential “khadim” (caretaker) families and that legal action would lead to intercommunal tensions. He said,
It was difficult to decide whether to release these photos. “
Deenbandhu Chaudhary, Navajyoti Editor
Chowdhury said they ultimately decided to go ahead with the story because it was the only way to get local authorities to take action. He said,
In the end, we decided to go ahead because it was the only way to wake the government and the police from their slumber. “
Soon after Chaudhry’s report was published, news of the incident rocked the town, with angry citizens holding public demonstrations during three days of marches. The BJP government ordered an inquiry after public pressure forced it to take action, but state secretary Onkar Singh Lakhotia admitted –
Action came too late. “
The report was followed by stories of widespread extortion and exploitation. Eventually, eight accused were charged in an FIR filed by the police. Following an investigation, a total of 18 men were arrested and tensions continued in the town for several days. As retired SP Omendra Bhardwaj, former deputy inspector general of police in Ajmer, said, there are many more victims who cannot come forward because of the social class of the accused. The harsh truth is that many young and vulnerable victims have taken their own lives. What happened next is yet another story of government political influence and incompetence. As a result, many of the victims who were supposed to testify became hostile and only a few came forward. The case is reportedly still pending.
social stigma
The smell of social stigma and ostracism in the aftermath of the incident was so strong that girls in the town were believed to be victims of the gang, with estimates in the hundreds. The situation in Ajmer was so bad that prospective grooms who were to marry Ajmer girls would visit the newspaper offices to ascertain whether the girl they planned to marry was “one of them”. People used to say that if the girl was from Ajmer, they needed to know more about her. According to Santosh Gupta, who works as a journalist at the office of a vernacular newspaper in Ajmer, visitors come to their office to inquire about future brides.
Is she one of those girls? “
Gupta also broke the story in 1992, saying:
They all want to know if the woman they married was one of the girls exploited in the blackmail scandal. Details of the case quickly spread by word of mouth. “
defendant
A total of 18 people were found to be involved. The 18 people accused of rape and kidnapping belong to the caretakers of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah Moinuddin Chishti Sufi shrine. The police identified Farooq Chishtee as the main accused in the case; Farooq is the president of the Ajmer Youth Congress. The other accused Anwar Chishtee is the joint secretary of the Indian National Congress in Ajmer and Nafis Chishtee serves as vice-president. The accused including Moijullah alias Puttan, Ishrat Ali, Anwar Chishtee and Shamshuddin alias Meradona were also sentenced by the court. In 2012, absconder Salim Chishtee was arrested. Another absconder named Alamas remains at large, according to police. On January 4, 2012, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police arrested one of the accused Saiyed Saleem Chishtee from Khalid Mohalla, Ajmer. On February 15, 2018, Suhail Ghani Chisty, the main accused in the 1992 Ajmer sex scandal, surrendered after 26 years. A resident of Khadim Mohalla (Dargah Bazar) in Suhail Ajmer, one of the most wanted persons in the scandal, has surrendered before the Ajmer district court.
trial and conviction
For police and women-focused NGOs, building a case against the perpetrators is a challenge as most victims are unwilling to come forward; however, photos and videos used to blackmail victims help identify the accused and prosecute them File a case. The investigation identified 30 victims; of these, approximately a dozen filed lawsuits, ten withdrew, and only two victims continued to pursue charges. After 18 accused were charged with kidnapping and gang-rape under the Indian Penal Code and Prohibition of Indecent Acts on Women, the main accused Farooq Chistee was later declared mentally unstable during the trial , three defendants committed suicide in prison, while another defendant named Saleem Nafees was arrested by the police in 2012. The Rajasthan High Court in 2013 upheld the original verdict but reduced the sentence from life imprisonment to the time the defendant had served. In 2014, the Supreme Court dismissed the convict’s appeal in addition to the state government’s appeal. A bench of Justices N. Santosh Hegde and BP Singh held:
Taking into account the facts and circumstances of the case, we believe that the purpose of justice will be achieved if the sentence is reduced to ten years of rigorous imprisonment. “
The silent pain of the victim
Several of the victims were the daughters of IAS officers or IPS officers, most of them from wealthy Hindu families. The victims of this tragedy suffered in silence, which is most disturbing. Many rape victims experience harassment and threats after rape without support from social groups or family members. According to police investigations, around six victims allegedly committed suicide. Due to threats, Ajmer Mahira Samuh stopped participating in the victims’ cause. In Ajmer, the local tabloids created quite a stir during that period. Many of the victims were allegedly further blackmailed by these tabloids and local newspapers after being taken advantage of, adding to the shock to the town’s conscience. After obtaining explicit photos of the girls, the owners and publishers sought funds from the girls’ families to hide them.
No one wants to talk about the case
The Ajmer rape scandal of 1992 shocked the entire country. As protests spread across the city, community tensions escalated. The bandhs were under observation for three days and news of widespread extortion and exploitation began to filter into the media. Police have also been criticized for failing to take action after becoming aware of ongoing abuse. In addition, local politicians warned that taking action against the defendants would lead to massive communal tensions, leading to a deadlock in the case. Musabir Hussain, joint secretary of the Anjuman Committee, which oversees the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, said,
No one in Ajmer wanted to talk about the case due to the nature of the crime. It’s a stain on our city’s history. “
in mass media
In 2021, a web series based on the 1992 Ajmer rape scandal was launched called ‘Ajmer 1992’. Directed by Pushpendra Singh and starring film and theater actor Sahil Mishra from Bhopal, the web series is expected to start airing in December 2021.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education