Waiting 32 years to see justice served in an Indian rape case
A major question mark hangs over the Indian justice system
In 1992, Sushma* was 18 years old when a man she knew lured her to an abandoned warehouse under the guise of watching video tapes. There, she was tied up and raped by six to seven men, who also took photographs of the assault. These men were from affluent, influential families in Ajmer, a city in Rajasthan, India.
"After the assault, one of them offered me 200 rupees [$2; £1] to buy lipstick. I refused," she recounted.
Last week, 32 years later, Sushma witnessed a court convict her rapists, sentencing them to life imprisonment.
"I am 50 years old today and finally feel a sense of justice," she said. "But it can't restore what I’ve lost."
Over the years, she endured societal slander and taunts, and her marriages ended in divorce when her husbands learned of her past.
Sushma is one of 16 survivors— all schoolchildren or students—who were raped and blackmailed by a group of powerful men across different locations in Ajmer over several months in 1992. The case became a massive scandal, sparking widespread protests.
Last week, the court sentenced six of the 18 accused—Nafis Chishty, Iqbal Bhat, Saleem Chishty, Sayed Jamir Hussain, Naseem (also known as Tarzan), and Suhail Ghani—to life in prison. They have not confessed to the crime, and their lawyers plan to appeal the verdict in a higher court.
