Srinagar: Five people have been held guilty and two acquitted by the Chandigarh district court in the 2006 Jammu-Kashmir sex scandal case. The court will pronounce the quantum of the punishment on June 4. The guilty include former J&K DSP Mohammed Ashraf Mir, former DIG, BSF, KC Padhi, while businessman Mehrajuddin Malik and former J&K general advocate Anil Sethi have been acquitted in the case.
The scandal came to light in 2006 when the J&K police discovered two video CDs showing Kashmiri minors being sexually exploited. The minors were forced into the sex trade and were exploited sexually by politicians, bureaucrats and police officials.
Police named one Sabeena, who allegedly ran a brothel in Srinagar, as the prime accused in the case. They also drew up a list of 56 names, which included some high profile individuals, who were allegedly involved in the scandal.
The case was transferred to the CBI after names of two J&K ministers and several MLAs emerged during the state police investigation. Then J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah resigned in 2009 after his name was also linked to the case. The state governor, however, rejected his resignation.
Four victims were named as CBI witnesses in the case, of which three of them turned hostile. The fourth was kept in protective custody due to the sensitive nature of the case.
