Author: Aijaz Hussain
Publication: India Today
Date: May 22, 2006
Introduction: The sex ring involving young
girls coerced into prostitution and abused by senior politicians, bureaucrats
and police and security officials snowballs into an explosion of public anger
Sex rings, politicians, policemen, prostitution,
scandal. It is encounters of a different kind that have dominated the headlines
in Srinagar, and even though no active militants were involved, the issue
is explosive enough. That is mainly due to the cast of characters involved:
underage girls, bureaucrats, politicians, police officers and security officials,
all caught, literally, with their pants down, on CDs circulating in the Kashmir
Valley. So serious is the impact of the sex scandal, the biggest in the history
of the state, that it has engulfed the capital Srinagar in a wave of public
protests which have blown the lid off the extensive sleaze racket.
The demonstrations followed the sensational
disclosures made to the police by a 15-year-old girl about how she and scores
of other girls were coerced into becoming sex slaves for senior members of
the administration and of the security apparatus. The racket would have remained
undiscovered had it not been for the two CDs with explicit scenes which surfaced
in the Habbakadal locality of the Old City in Srinagar, where community elders
took the discs to the local police station. The young girl in the CD was identified.
On being questioned, she disclosed how she was forced into the racket, and,
more sensationally, named the people involved. Investigations revealed the
extent of the scandal, involving three top politicians in the ruling coalition
in the state, over a dozen police and security officials and another three
dozen girls coerced into prostitution.
The revelations led the police to the kingpin
of the sex racket, a woman named Sabeena, assisted by a surrendered militant,
Merajjudin, who drugged the girls or offered them monetary inducements, filmed
them in compromising situations, and then forced them into prostitution. Sabeena
and two others, Naseer Ahmed and Riyaz Langoo, were arrested, while Merajjudin
is still absconding. The disclosures made by the 15-year-old girl established
how the sex racket worked. "I was studying in class 8th when I first
met her (Sabeena) at a party in Habbakadal. She told me she would arrange
a job for me. After some time, I went to her home but there was no one except
Merajjudin who drugged me. Afterwards, I don't know what happened," the
victim told Aaj Tak on camera. She said that after some time a CD containing
obscene scenes featuring her came out. She had to drop out of school. And
she was not alone. "As many as 30 to 40 girls of different ages were
coaxed, coerced and lured into prostitution by this group," a top police
official said.
The arrests and investigations that followed
and the pornographic CDs indicate the high profiles of the people embroiled
in the scandal. Several influential people are allegedly involved, including
two Congress ministers and a top party functionary, three senior SPs, seven
DSPs and some businessmen. A list of names sent to Congress President Sonia
Gandhi included two independent MLAs who support the Congress in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, the police have questioned two of their serving officers of DSP
rank. The sex ring is clearly well connected and the racket seems to have
been going on for some time.
As the protests snowballed, the revelations
rocked the entire Kashmir Valley. Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig
was quick to react to the scandal. "It's shocking because it shows that
the culture of Kashmir is being destroyed," Baig said. However, Kashmir's
IGP K. Rajindra added that "a lot of exaggeration has been added to the
episode to make it sensational". Whatever the truth, the fact that the
CBI has now been officially asked to investigate the matter suggests that
it is serious enough.
The CBI enquiry is yet to begin but public
anger continues to rise. The reaction the scandal has provoked in the general
populace is indicative of the distrust of the people in the state administration.
The involvement of top state officials has only provided a handle for various
groups and locals to vent their anger. A women's separatist outfit, Dukhtaran-e-Millat
(daughters of faith) alleged that the state administration was "patronising"
prostitution, pornography and other vulgar activities "to counter insurgency".
The outfit's chief Asiya Andrabi called for a Valley-wide shutdown. The protests
were marked by violence at many places in which at least 50 people were injured
and dozens arrested. Anger over the Government "inaction" was also
expressed by the ransacking of Sabeena's house in old Srinagar.
The state Government has been desperately
trying to buy time by handing over the case to the CBI. In a letter to Chief
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Baig wrote: "The public outrage against the
scandal ... has resulted in widespread law and order problems in Kashmir ...
people have a right to know, which is guaranteed to them under the Freedom
of Information Act." In response, Azad declared: "Whosoever is involved,
no matter what position he or she holds, will be brought to justice. We should
wait till the final report (of the probe into the racket) comes." That
will take some time but the scandal in Srinagar shows that paradise, or one
sleazy version of it, is clearly reserved for the well-connected.
