J&K sex scandal: Ex-BSF DIG among 5 held guilty
Victim was just paid ₹250 to ₹500 per client: prosecution
CHANDIGARH: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here on Wednesday held five persons, including former Border Security Force deputy inspector general and an ex-deputy superintendent of police, guilty of rape and acquitted two others in the 12-year-old Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal. The quantum of sentence in the oldest case at the UT district courts will be pronounced on June 4.
Those convicted are then BSF DIG KS Padhi, former DSP Mohammad Ashraf Mir, and three J&K residents — Shabbir Ahmed Laway, Shabbir Ahmed Langhoo and Masud Ahmed. The accused broke down inside the court as soon as the judge pronounced the verdict.
Mehraj-ud-din Malik and Anil Sethi, a former additional advocate general of Jammu and Kashmir, were acquitted as court gave them benefit of doubt as “the prosecution failed to prove charges after the victim refused to identify them in court.”
The scandal surfaced in the heart of Srinagar in 2006 after a pornographic CD involving a 15-year-old was handed over to the police, bringing to light a flesh trade racket and implicating a host of VVIPs in the state. Members of an NGO Samaj Sudhar had a complaint with the police after they got hold of video clippings. The police questioned the two girls and the alleged kingpin, Sabeena. After grilling
them, they discovered the names of 56 people allegedly involved in the racket. Sabeena and her husband, Abdul Hamid Bullah, who were running a brothel, were subsequently booked.
The couple, however, died of natural causes during the pendency of the case. The case was transferred to the CBI in May 2006 after names of ministers, MLAs and other influential men emerged in the case
The CBI had named four victims in the case, three of whom turned hostile during the trial. The remaining one was kept in protective custody due to sensitive nature of the case.
During probe, various hoteliers and guesthouse owners besides cops were also booked for criminal conspiracy. A supplementary challan was filed against them but most of the accused were acquitted for want of evidence. The last to be acquitted was Muhammad Yusuf Mir, former SP. Others who were acquitted include Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, former chief secretary; Raman Mattu, former minister; Absar Ahmed Dar, a cop; Hilal Shah and Ghulam Ahmed Mir, both Congress leaders.
CHANDIGARH: Poverty forced the minor victim of the Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal into prostitution, prosecution told the CBI court.
CBI prosecutor KP Singh said in the court that the victim who is now in her 20s was forced to establish sexual relations with the accused.
Victim’s father was a daily wager and her mother was a house help at brothel owner Sabeena’s home, the then 15-year-old victim fell in the trap of prostitution racket which was being run in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, CBI prosecutor KP Singh told the court.
The victim was eldest child among her parents’ four children. Prosecutrix questioned as to why she used to get ₹250 to ₹500 only from the client.
The CBI investigation had revealed that when prosecutrix asked Sabeena, the main accused, as to why the victim was being paid so less, the accused told that only during the first sexual intercourse she was to be paid ₹500, after which, it was bound to reduce.
The victim’s repeated references to returning home from the brothel/hotels/guest houses on foot or auto-rickshaws further reiterated her poor background.
“The sheer helplessness of the victim became more and more evident during the trial of the case, especially when she recorded her statement before the court,” said KP Singh.
In fact, in an ironical turn of events, the victim’s mother had stepped in the witness box from the defence side, despite having been one of the prosecution witnesses. Sources in the CBI believe it was a financial settlement made outside the court thereby confirming the poverty angle.
It was in 2003, when the minor was a Class-7 student and was approached by a person who introduced her to Sabeena, residing in the same locality as hers in Srinagar. The girl after being served tea allegedly was taken to a room in Sabeena’s house. Shew was made to drink juice mixed with certain tablets. This was the first time when she was made to have sexual intercourse with a 35-year-old man, as per the evidence presented in the court.
It is learnt that the victim saw three or four other girls also coming to the brothel everyday, who were also made the CBI witnesses, however, they turned hostile during the trial.
In her statement, the prosecutrix claimed that many of the accused, including BSF DIG, wanted to marry her but she refused.
Some of them even made video clippings of the sexual act and when she protested, they allegedly threatened her not to disclose it to anyone.