Finding a private school teacher, Rameez Raja guilty of rape, abuse and blackmailing of over 50 children, magistrate Rajesh Kumar of a special POCSO court awarded him life imprisonment in Jaipur here on Tuesday.
The court has imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 on the paedophile teacher who has been convicted under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act by the POCSO court-3 for a case which goes back to 2017.
“Raja sodomised the students who used to go to his home for tuition classes. He made video clippings of the crime and had been asking the students to bring money for him,” the counsel of one of the victims, Aslam Khan, said.
He circulated some clippings on social media and parents of one of the victims saw it, following which an FIR was lodged in February 2017.
Rameez Raja was arrested on February 9, 2017, by Ramganj police. After investigation, Ramganj police presented the challan in the court on April 28, 2017. During the hearing, 21 witnesses were present in the court.
The accused had sexually abused over 50 children in a span of 6 years, from 2011-2017 until he was arrested. Besides, he had also recorded 50 pornographic clippings of young boys.
The school where Rameez taught is situated in Char Darwaza area of Ramganj.
Apart from teaching in the school, Rameez also took private tuitions. He sexually abused the children coming for tuition and made video recordings of the same. He then demanded money from the students and blackmailed them threatening to make the videos public or failing them in exams.
The residents of Ramganj had then taken out rallies demanding strict action against the paedophile.
Further investigations had then revealed that the administration of the school where Rameez was teaching hadn’t taken action, except for firing him, even after the matter was brought to its notice.
The police had later arrested the school owner, Sarwar Alam for hiding evidence. He has, however, now been acquitted by the POCSO court.
