Eight people charged in the J&K sex scandal

The CBI has filed charges against eight people, including a top police officer, in the J&K sex scandal.

BY A CORRESPONDENT

26 June 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed charges against eight people, including a senior police officer, in the Jammu & Kashmir sex scandal.

BSF Deputy Inspector General KS Padhi is among those charged for his alleged involvement in the racket. Padhi has been accused by one of the teenaged girls of raping her.

Apart from Padhi, the chargesheet was filed against Sabeena, the alleged kingpin of the racket, former Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi, Deputy SP Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Shabir Langoo, Shabir Kala, Mehrajuddin Malik and Masood Ahmed.

All the eight have been charged with rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for sexually abusing a minor. The other charges against the accused include procuring of girls for prostitution, intimidation of the witnesses, and wrongful confinement.

If convicted, the accused face a punishment of seven years to life imprisonment. 

Two politicians, Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Raman Mattoo are being questioned by the CBI and have yet to be charged.

A court in Srinagar has ordered the CBI to produce the accused eight in court on July 7.

Meanwhile, Anil Sethi, former state Additional Advocate General, was remanded to judicial custody till July 7. He was earlier in CBI custody.

The scandal broke after a pornographic CD that was doing the rounds of Srinagar was handed over to the Police. After the police questioned two girls and the alleged kingpin, Sabeena, they rounded up the names of 56 people who were involved in the racket.