After Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's conviction, more and more horror tales of victims raped by godmen and Maulvis are surfacing online. In a recent case, survivors opened up about a Maulvi in Kashmir who raped minor boys on the "pretext of warding off evils."
Peer Aijaz Sheikh, called as Maulvi Sahab near Sopore town in Kashmir, was booked under Section 377 (Unnatural offences) under state's Ranbir Penal Code. However, he is out on bail now. Sheikh claims that he is innocent, but the survivors have a different story to tell.
Sheikh, who is married and has three children, said that he has been falsely framed in the case. "I am innocent. You do not even have to trust me; you can ask anyone in the village and you will get the idea of the reputation I hold," he told Mail Today.
However, the survivors claim that Sheikh raped the minor boys in front of other boys. The victims were so innocent that they believed they would get pregnant and always feared about contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The survivors said they had no option other than following the Peer's orders because their family members were his blind followers.
"I was 11-year-old when my uncle took me to Aijaz Sheikh. I was sexually abused several times. One night, there were around 10-11 children in the age group of 11 to 14 at his house. He forced us to perform sexual acts from evening until next morning. He used to watch us and would then decide to rape the most attractive boys present there," an alleged victim told Mail Today.
"Once, he sexually abused me to the extent that I fell down on the ground and was badly hurt. I was so innocent that I asked myself what if I get pregnant? What am I going to tell my parents if that happens? For years to come, I feared that I might have also contracted some STDs. Having come out against the accused makes me feel scared for my life."
One of the teen survivors claimed that he was abused for 4 years. He said he dropped out of school because of the Peer.
Another victim, who was his student, revealed that the Peer used to rape boys when he used to teach in school. According to the victim, the Peer would ask his followers to bring a child aged 12 or below.
"When I was there he told me that I had to sleep in his room, for which I would get money. Soon I found his dark side. He would rape me while pretending to be possessed by Jinn. But one day, he mistakenly exposed himself to me and then I realised that I was being abused. I got angry on hearing this and gathered the courage to threaten him," the victim said.
When the Peer was asked about treating people possessed by jinns, he said, he used to give them taweez (amulets).
The victims have come out to fight after several years. They said in court that the Peer threatened them and said they would be made to vanish by a ghost.
Meanwhile, the Peer has been granted bail and the next hearing is scheduled on September 27.
