JAIPUR: Six of the prime accused in the sordid Ajmer sex scandal that surfaced 32 years ago were given life imprisonment by a POCSO court on Tuesday.Judge Ranjan Singh of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Ajmer has also slapped fines of Rs 5 lakh each on the accused along with their life sentence. Seen as the country’s worst sex scandal, the Ajmer case 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 trapped by a gang that lured them into affairs, then photographed them in compromising positions, and subsequently used the pictures 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 6 convicts were present in the court when the sentence was delivered.One of the accused, Iqbal Bhati, was brought to Ajmer from Delhi in an ambulance. At the time of the scandal, all culprits were aged between 20 and 28 years.The sensational case had shaken Rajasthan in the early 1990s. Investigations revealed the accused had given photo reels to a lab for development. The lab staff leaked the pictures 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 photos started blackmailing the girls. Six girls of the college committed suicide. Amid the public furore, the then BJP government led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat handed over this case to the CID-CB. Out of the 18s accused, four have already served their sentence.Four other accused have been acquitted by the High Court. One had committed suicide 30 years ago during the trial.
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