In Rajasthan’s Beawar, a redux of the 1992 Ajmer sex scandal wherein minor Hindu girls were systematically groomed, blackmailed, raped and coerced into conversion to Islam, has sparked outrage. The horrific case of sexual exploitation by the Muslim grooming gang in Beawar was exposed by the police in February this year.
On 17th of February 2025, the Beawar police busted a gang of barely educated Muslim youths Rehan Mohammad (20), Sohail Mansuri (19), Lukman (20), Arman Pathan (19), Sahil Qureshi (19), and two minors who were trapping Hindu girls, raping them, and forcing them to convert to Islam. These rape jihadis were teaching Hindu girls about namaz, roza, and reciting the Kalma (Islamic declaration of faith). Furthermore, they were pressuring the girls to wear burqas, perform namaz, observe Roza (fast) and brainwash them for conversion to Islam. The accused rape jihadis have been booked under the POCSO Act alongside other relevant provisions. Last month, while being taken to the court for a remand hearing, six of the accused were thrashed by the lawyers present there.
As per a victim’s testimony, these rape jihadis used to follow Hindu girls studying class 10th at a school in Beawar’s Bijainagar. After coming in contact with the girls over mobile phone they would sexually assault the girls, take explicit pictures and videos of the crime and then use it to abuse them further. The accused would give small mobile phones to the victims.
One of the accused Sohail Mansuri, gave a victim a small mobile phone to communicate with him. He constantly threatened her. Following his insistence, she introduced her friends to Sohail’s friends, namely Riyan, Javed, and Arman. Sohail tormented the Hindu girl into wearing a burqa and taught her about Ramadan and fasting. He reportedly brainwashed her into observing fasts. He cut her hand with a blade and pressured her to recite the Kalma.
The victims said that the men would come in new vehicles, including Bullet motorcycles and other cars, to take them away. One of the victims said, “They once told me that a Brahmin girl would fetch ₹20 lakh if sold, and you (a Dalit) would get ₹10 lakh.” The girls said in their statements that they were continuously blackmailed with obscene photos and videos and forced to bring in other girls.
The case unravelled after a mobile phone was found with one of the girls. When the family called one of the Muslim men, he responded with abuses and threats. The victim’s family rushed to the police station and filed a complaint about the matter, after which the case unfolded layer by layer. The police found that it was not just one victim but multiple girls who had fallen prey. Several Muslim men were involved. They also extorted money from the girls and forced them to steal cash from their homes.
One of the victims from Beawar disclosed that the ‘Muslim gang’ used to pressurise her to go to the local maulvis and mosques. The police arrested former councillor Hakim Qureshi in Bijaynagar on 23rd February in the case, demonstrating the involvement of several Muslim groups in this gang. He was produced at the residence of the judge of the POCSO court in Kotda on the same day and sent on a 5-day police remand. Later, he was sent to judicial custody till 11th March. Qureshi was allegedly assisting other accused rape jihadis.
10 arrested so far, including a former councillor
So far 10 accused have been arrested, while three minors have been taken into custody. While the police are investigating the matter, tensions prevail in Beawar as the local Hindu community is outraged over the incident. On 24th February, a shutdown was called on Monday (24th February) in Ajmer, Beawar and Bhilwara districts by people outraged by the crime. People have been demanding the death penalty for all the culprits involved in the crime.
On Saturday (1st March), a total shutdown was observed in Ajmer in protest against the Beawar rape and blackmail case. Hindu organisations joined by locals took out an “Aakrosh” rally to the district collector’s office and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter. The protesting Hindu rights activists also handed a memorandum to the collector.
Speaking about the grooming gang case and the demands of the protesting locals, Ajmer’s Deputy Mayor Neeraj Jain said, “We want the case to be handed over to the CBI. This is not just a case of blackmail or rape — Hindu minor girls were allegedly manipulated into converting to Islam. It is a clear case of Love Jihad. Justice must not be delayed, as was seen in the Ajmer blackmail case, where culprits were punished after 33 years. This case should be fast-tracked to ensure timely justice.”
Other than Hindu rights organisations, around 124 market associations also extended their support to the “bandh” across Ajmer and traders were instructed to close their establishments.
Earlier, Rajasthan’s Governor Haribhau Bagde reportedly said Muslim rape jihadis targeted the girls because they had links to a Hindu organisation. Meanwhile, encroachment notices have been issued to the families of the accused and to the local Jama Masjid.
On 24th February, the municipal corporation demolished the allegedly illegally constructed veranda of the house of one of the accused. Following this, a group of local Muslims submitted an application to the Beawar collector regarding these notices and cited the Supreme Court guidelines issued last year regarding demolition.
Meanwhile, the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Congress party of involvement in both the 1992 Ajmer rape and blackmail case as well as the Beawar case. BJP leader Satish Poonia said, “Congress is in the background from the Ajmer blackmail scandal to the Bijaynagar blackmail scandal.”
Notably, the Beawar case inevitably recalls the 1992 Ajmer sex scandal, one of India’s most infamous grooming gang cases. Over several years, a group led by Farooq Chishti and Nafees Chishti who were members of the Khadim families of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, preyed on 100s of school and college-going Hindu girls aged 11-20. The Khadims claim to be the descendants of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. The rape jihadis, some of whom were Youth Congress leaders took the victims to remote farmhouses under false pretences, raped them and photographed them to further blackmail and exploit them. The Muslim groomers used the explicit images of their victims to blackmail the girls into bringing in more girls, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of abuse. Such cases have also been reported in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.
