'Jamai Raja' of Rajasthan dies after raping 55 brides

A man in the Barmer district of Rajasthan who raped 55 child brides in the region before decamping with their jewellery died a lonely death on Saturday in a police station in Nimbalkot village.  

Jiyaram Jat, 54, had earned the sobriquet ‘Jamai Raja’ for maintaining a record of 18 cases of molestation and cheating filed against him in various police stations of Barmer. 

According to the police, when Jat was arrested in 2004, he had already molested 55 brides in a span of nine years. He revealed that he only targeted child brides and went to their house during the ‘gauna’ ceremony - a time when child brides are sent with their husbands when they become adults. “He would walk into such households after nightfall and introduce himself as the girl’s husband. Since she was married in childhood, she wouldn’t recognise him,” one of the police officials told Hindustan Times.

After molesting the bride, he would vanish with the jewellery that the girl is supposed to take along with her to her in-laws. According to Hindustan Times, Jat also said that most of the families didn’t file a complaint against him fearing public shame but however he was caught in 2013 near Chilanadi village, where he was stalking a girl in a village in the Barmer district .