In a middle-class neighborhood in Rajasthan, there is a house with no name or number at the end of a long, silent, car-lined alley. Nothing is unusual about it, but during the past 18 years, this house has received at least seven visits from uniformed and plainclothes police officers. They arrived searching for a woman who didn’t want to be haunted by her past.
Ajmer: In a middle-class neighborhood in a city in Rajasthan, there is a house with no name or number at the end of a long, calm, car-lined alley. Nothing is unusual about it, but during the past 18 years, this house has received at least seven visits from uniformed and plainclothes police officers. They arrived searching for a woman who didn’t want to be haunted by her past.
She peeks out the balcony window whenever the doorbell sounds. Her son opens the door to say: “No woman by this name lives here—a standard response for years.“
The Ajmer Gangrape Scandal
The 1992 Ajmer blackmail and rape scandal is the subject of police visits, dating back three decades. Early in the 1990s, prominent men from well-connected families in Ajmer gang-raped numerous schoolgirls and college-bound women—16 teenagers, according to government records—and silenced them for months.
A scandal that consumed the city’s attention for years, generated innumerable headlines and sparked a Congress-versus-BJP tit-for-tat fueled the scandal. But the women were not treated fairly.
— Jyoti Yadav (@jyotiyadaav) July 11, 2023
Unequal Treatment and Survivor’s Testimony
Those 18 accused included Farooq and Nafees, who held influential positions in the Congress and were part of the extended Khadim family associated with the Ajmer Sharif shrine. Farooq was convicted, but his sentence was reduced, and he was released in 2013, and the two men still hold power in Ajmer. Nafees is free on bail.
Most survivors protested against the administration, but one woman stood her ground. She gave the most potent, chilling testimony against nine of her rapists. He testified in court not once but thrice. Many people were convicted of his statements. She is essential to the matter, but now she is enough.
Survivors’ Privacy at Stake
“Let her move on. She has gone through a lot,” the woman of the house said, deliberately speaking in the third person to avoid being identified. She came down from the top floor, her voice was firm, but her hands shook as she held a teacup.
The woman said, “Now let him go ahead. She has endured a lot,”. Deliberately avoiding identification of one of the victims, a third person said, “She came down from the top floor, her voice firm but her hands trembling as she held the cup of tea.”
Bollywood and Netflix Interest
However, Netflix and Bollywood have noticed a tale of her troubled life struggles. YouTube videos, WhatsApp forwards, and social media talk are also nipping at the heels of the survivors. Like many others in the gangrape case, her hard-won anonymity and privacy will likely become increasingly fragile.
On 14 July 2023, the teaser of Superstar’s new film Ajmer 92 teaser was released, written, and directed by Pushpendra Singh and produced by Ramesh Kumar Tiwari. The Ajmer Files, another movie based on crime in Ajmer, will be made by Tips, another film and music production company, and will be directed by Abhishek Dudhaiya. Bollywood industry business analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted about both projects.
‘AJMER 92’ TO RELEASE ON 14 JULY… A #RelianceEntertainment presentation, #Ajmer92 will release in *cinemas* on 14 July 2023… Stars #KaranVerma, #SumitSingh, #SayajiShinde and #ManojJoshi… Directed by #PushpendraSingh… Produced by #UmeshKumarTiwari. pic.twitter.com/ddKnAedh6D
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) May 26, 2023
Political Exploitation and Polarization
In the months leading up to the Rajasthan state assembly elections and with the release of films like The Kerala Story (2023) and The Kashmir Files (2022), more and more actual events are being dramatized and exaggerated for partisan political ends.
Many worry that the Ajmer case, in which most rapists were young Muslim men and most of the victims were Hindu women, will be used to polarize society further. However, the survivors who have carefully navigated their lives for over three decades will pay the price in this spotlight.
The Ajmer sex scandal has been brought back to life by the movie and web series, bringing it back into the spotlight. On national television, it can be seen in debates where activists, feminists, and well-known individuals express their displeasure while Congress and BJP members trade barbs.
Concerns within the Muslim Community
According to a source from the Anjuman Committee, the Dargah’s governing body, the influential Khadim family of the Dargah is agitating behind the scenes to prevent their release.
According to Khadim Sarwar Chishti, secretary of the Anjuman Committee at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, one of the videos said, “A girl is something that can corrupt anyone“. This clip later went viral from that journalist.
On the condition of anonymity, a member of the dargah said, “It has become a communal issue and the actions of a few individuals should not trouble the Muslim community.”
“The case has come a long way. It was never about justice, and it is not about justice this time either, but it always remained a political sex scandal for widespread consumption.
As the TV screen flashes headlines again, I am reminded of the school and college girls we saw every morning on the roads,” Beena Sharma, a retired Hindi professor from Savitri College, said.
“At the peak of the case, our principal had arranged the photos for the staff of 60 lecturers and professors to identify the victims. We couldn’t trace them in the classrooms,” she added.
Conclusion
The 1992 Ajmer gang rape scandal has resurfaced in the public consciousness due to the interest of Bollywood and Netflix. While the spotlight on the case may highlight the survivors’ struggles, concerns about political exploitation and the erosion of privacy persist.
As society awaits the release of films and web series on the subject, the survivors continue to bear the burden of their traumatic past, caught between pursuing justice and preserving their privacy.