Imam convicted for sexually abusing hundreds of children for three decades in Kashmir Valley

Srinagar: A godman and Imam of a mosque who sexually abused minor children for over three decades in North Kashmir’s Sopore area has finally been convicted after a decade long legal battle. The local court convicted the infamous paedophile Ajaz Sheikh bringing relief to the hundreds of victims.

Sheikh misused the trust people had in the positions he held as an imam, teacher, and faith healer in the area. He exploited his position and sway to sexually abuse children for over 30 years and never got caught. There are thousands of victims of Sheikh’s abuse in the district, and some of them have shared their horrific abuse tales.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sopore Courton Tuesday sentenced the convict to 14 years of imprisonment, seven years each in two cases. He will also have to pay a fine of 50,000 rupees to each of the victims. The victims are also at liberty to approach authorities for compensation.

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''The CJM sopore sentenced the accused to seven years of imprisonment each for two victims. In this case, the sentences will run consecutively, which will mean he will be in jail for 14 years and will have to pay a Rs 50000 fine to each of the victims,” said Naila Noor, public prosecutor.

One of the victims in the case had revealed in court that he was raped over 500 times by the faith healer over a period of three years. He later developed some serious health issues. In some cases, the faith healer used to ask the minor children to engage in sexual acts while he would watch. Some of the victims were less than 10 years of age and were forced to do violent assaults.

“He was hired as a Quran teacher; he would choose and take kids with him. He would tell the parents that there is black magic in the family, and he would need the child below 12 years of age to stay with him as he would want them to speak to Djinn’s and heal them. It was during this time that he would sexually abuse them. I also became a victim of the same,” said one of the victims.

The first FIR against Sheikh was filed on March 2, 2016. A chargesheet was produced against him in 2017, and since then the legal battle has been going on. The defence lawyers made their arguments in January this year. Over the course of time, the case saw many replacements; the judges were replaced six times, while the prosecutors were changed four times as well.

“This case was filed in the Bomai area of Sopore in the year 2016 under Section 377. This convict was involved in sexual exploitation of children under the age of 18. He warned those children not to reveal anything to their parents. He threatend that he would harm the children and their parents,” said Mirza Zahid Khalil, senior prosecuting officer.