Pocso court awards life term to six in 1992 Ajmer rape cases

More than 100 female school and college students were blackmailed using obscene photographs and sexually assaulted.

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) court in Jaipur on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to six accused in the 1992 Ajmer rape cases, in which more than 100 female school and college students were blackmailed using obscene photographs and sexually assaulted.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on each of them. (Representational image)

Justice Ranjan Singh also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on each of the accused, who were convicted under sections 376 (rape) and 120b (conspiracy) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC) in July, prosecution lawyer Virendra Singh said.

“The six accused were awarded life sentences for the 1992 rapes in Ajmer. The court also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on each of them. A total of 16 girls recorded their statements in court,” Singh said.

Defence lawyer Ajay Kumar Verma said: “We will file an appeal against the sentence in the high court.”

The rapes in Ajmer, which sent shockwaves across the country, took place in 1992, after school and college-going girls aged between 11 and 20 years were victimised by a gang, whose members initially befriended them and photographed them in compromising situations. The girls were later blackmailed and sexually assaulted. The gang, people aware of the details said, also asked the victims to bring their friends and threatened to leak their images if they did not comply.

Most of the girls who were raped were students of a top private school in Ajmer. The accused men would call them to a farmhouse and assault them, the people added.

There were a total of 18 accused in the case. Of these, 11 were awarded imprisonment of varying terms, five were acquitted, one went absconding and one died by suicide. Of the total acquitted men, one was tried separately for sodomising a boy.

Barring the six whose punishment was announced on Tuesday, four men were awarded life imprisonment in 2003. However, their sentences were reduced to 10 years by the Supreme Court later that year. They have completed their terms and have been released.

In 2001, four people were acquitted by the Rajasthan high court on grounds of lack of evidence. They were awarded life imprisonment by a local court in 1998.

Providing details on some of the accused, Singh said Naseem alias Tarzan went absconding in 1994 and a red corner notice was later issued against him. Jahur Chishti was found guilty under section 377 (unnatural sex) of IPC and his case was transferred to another court.

The trial of Farooq Chishti ran separately after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and he was given a life term in 2007, Singh said. One of the accused died by suicide during the course of trial.

The six accused, who were awarded the punishment on Tuesday, are Salim Chishti, Naseem alias Tarzan, Nafees Chishti, Sohail Ghani, Iqbal Bhati and Jameen Hussain. While Hussain was out on anticipatory bail, the remaining have already been in prison for varying durations.

The prosecution lawyer said a separate trial for the above six men was conducted because the investigation against them was kept pending at the time of the filing of the first charge sheet.

(With PTI inputs)