1992 Ajmer rapes: POCSO court sentences 6 more accused to life imprisonment
Jaipur, Aug 20: A POCSO court has sentenced six more men to life imprisonment in the sensational Ajmer sex scandal, in which more than 100 girls were raped and blackmailed.
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court judge Ranjan Singh also slapped fines of Rs 5 lakh on each of the accused.
Prosecution counsel Virendra Singh said that Nafees Chishti, Naseem alias Tarzan, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani and Sayed Zameer Hussain were convicted of being involved in the crime. Bhati was brought to Ajmer from Delhi in an ambulance.
The Ajmer sex scandal came to light in 1992.
The school and college-going girls aged between 11 and 20 years were victimised by a gang, whose members befriended them and shot their photographs in compromising situations, and later raped them.
There were a total of 18 accused in the case.
Singh said the first charge sheet in the case was filed against 12.
Among them, Naseem alias Tarzan went absconding in 1994, and Jahur Chishti was found guilty under Section 377 (unnatural sex) 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. One of the accused committed suicide.
The other eight accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998.
He said the second charge sheet was filed against Nafees Chishti, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, Sayed Zameer Hussain, and Almas who is still at large.
The remaining five -- Nafees Chishti, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, Sayed Zameer Hussain and another accused Naseem alias Tarzan -- named in the first charge sheet and went absconding -- were awarded life imprisonment on Tuesday.
The other accused, who were given punishment in the past, have either completed their terms or been acquitted by the courts.
The lawyer said that a separate trial for these six was conducted because the investigation against them was kept pending at the time of the filing of the first charge sheet.
The victims studied in a famous private school in Ajmer. They were called to a farmhouse, where they were raped.
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SC to hear on May 4 PIL seeking stringent guidelines for issuing Aadhaar to adolescents, adults
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Unique Identification Authority of India to issue new Aadhaar cards only to citizens up to the age of six years, and frame stringent guidelines for its issuance to adolescents and adults to stop infiltrators from masquerading as Indian citizens.
As per the apex court's causelist of May 4, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has also sought a direction to the authorities to install display boards at common service centres stating that the 12-digit unique identification number is only a "proof of identity" and not a proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
Besides all the states and Union Territories, the plea has made the UIDAI -- which is the authority that issues Aadhaar -- and the Union ministries of home, law and justice, and electronics and information technology as parties.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, said Aadhaar, originally intended as a proof of identity, has increasingly become a "foundational document" enabling individuals to obtain other identification documents, such as ration cards, domicile certificates and voter identity cards.
"The UIDAI has issued 144 crore Aadhaar and 99 percent Indians have been enrolled. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this writ petition as a PIL under Article 32, seeking a direction to UIDAI to issue new Aadhaar to children only and frame new stringent guidelines for adolescents and adults, so as to stop infiltrators from getting it and masquerading as Indian citizens," the plea said.
It said the need to file the plea arose when the petitioner came to know the manner in which infiltrators are able to procure Aadhaar through a verification process that is weak and can be easily manipulated.
"Foreigners apply for Aadhaar under the 'foreign' category. But infiltrators apply for Aadhaar under the 'Indian citizen' category and get it easily made. Thereafter, they obtain a ration card, birth and domicile certificate, driving licence, et cetera, essentially becoming indistinguishable from Indian citizens…," it said.
Besides seeking other directions, the plea has raised legal questions, including whether the Aadhaar Act 2016 has become "temporally unreasonable" for failing to keep up with the legislative intent of distinguishing foreigners from Indian citizens.
It said the alleged misuse of Aadhaar undermines targeted welfare delivery and leads to diversion of public resources.
