J&K court sentences faith healer to 14 years in jail for sexually abusing minors

Srinagar, Feb 18 (PTI) A court in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday sentenced a faith healer to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for committing unnatural sexual offences with two minor children during their religious lessons.

Dismissing defense counsel’s assertion about four-year delay in registering of FIR, Chief Judicial Magistrate Sopore Mir Wajahat reasoned it with a poem.

“Better Late Than Never; A voice once lost, now breaks the chain, No more silence, no more pain. Justice waits, though time may sever, Yet truth prevails — better late than never,” the judge said while sentencing Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh, a religious preacher and faith healer.

Sentencing him to seven years each for offence committed against two victims, the judge said the delay in lodging the FIR is “not a lapse in the credibility of the victims” but rather a testament to the weight of fear, manipulation, and psychological subjugation that silenced them for years.

“When young minds, already battling the turbulence of growth and self-awareness, are preyed upon with calculated coercion, their silence is not consent — it is the mark of their helplessness,” the judge said.

The court on Monday convicted Sheikh of committing offences under section 377 (unnatural sexual act) of Ranbir Penal Code in the case registered in March 2016.

The court sentenced the convict to seven years of imprisonment for offence committed against one of the victims (prosecution witness 3) and a term of another seven years for a similar offence committed against another victim (prosecution witness 8).

“The sentences shall run consecutively, meaning the accused shall serve a total of 14 years of rigorous imprisonment,” the court directed.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on the convict. The two victims will be paid a compensation of Rs 45,000 each out of this fine amount, the judge ordered.

“This compensation shall not be bar for victims to enforce their civil or tortuous remedies against the convicted,” the court added.

In its 10-page order, the judge said the victims were subjected to a series of sustained sufferings, “each incident compounding the scars that still live within them”.

“This was not a momentary transgression but a prolonged, systematic infliction of abuse that seeped into their very sense of self, leaving them grappling with an internalised shame that society often fails to acknowledge,” the order said.

The judge mentioned that one of the victims prayed for an audience through counsel but he could not utter anything “but a gaze, tears…he could not say with mouth but by all his gestures” and passed on a page which was taken on record by the court and reproduced in the judgment.

The survivor detailed the profound emotional, psychological, and physical scars left by the abuse, emphasising its lifelong impact on their sense of safety and ability to trust others.

“The severity of his crimes demands the maximum punishment under the law. He not only violated body but also betrayed the trust of the community that looked to him for guidance and healing.

“His actions were not just criminal; they were a profound abuse of power and a violation of the sacred duty he claimed to uphold,” the judge said.

The victims were minors and suffered severe psychological trauma; the accused engaged in repeated acts of abuse, exploited his spiritual influence, making the crime even more egregious, the judge said after examining the evidence and hearing arguments of both sides.

“Therefore, the conviction of the accused must be more than just a legal conclusion — it must stand as a precedent that acknowledges not only the crime but the echoes of suffering that persist in its aftermath,” the jduge said.

If the victims lived through years of horror, then even a delayed reckoning must ensure that the perpetrator is made to confront the gravity of his deeds, he said.

“Justice must not just punish but also recognise, validate, and dignify the voices that took years to find their way out of silence,” the judge added.

The court said over a span of 15 years, from 2001 to 2016, the convict manipulated victims through a calculated cycle of hope, fear, trust, and betrayal that shattered their bodies, minds, and souls.

“The prolonged nature of this abuse ensured that victims remained trapped and their voices silenced long after the incidents occurred, as they were subjected to fear, coercion, and sustained victimisation,” it said.

The case against Sheikh was filed in 2016 at the Bomai police station in North Kashmir by the father of one of the victims.

The court has also ordered the registration of separate FIRs against Sheikh for offenses committed against six other victims who testified in the case.

Moved by the harrowing experiences of the victims, Judge Mir Wajahat had expressed his sentiments through a poem on Monday, capturing the tragedy endured by the children. The poem addresses the themes of trust, betrayal, and the enduring quest for justice.