History of Ajmer Dargah’s Chishti family features gang-rape, blackmail of schoolgirls 

New Delhi: The Ajmer Dargah has found itself in a political muddle of late, all thanks to provocative and extremist statements made by its ‘khadims’ (clerics) against now-fired BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. In a latest, Syed Aadil Chishti, son of Sarwar Chishti, made a U-turn to denounce statements made against Hindu Gods.

Chishti junior said he did not intend to hurt anyone’s feelings and that his video was doctored by the media.

Earlier, Khadim Salman Chishti on 5 July threatened and put a bounty on Nupur Sharma’s head, offering his own house to the winner. Just last week, Ajmer Dargah’s another Khadim Sarwar Chisti challenged the Government of India "not to compel the Muslims to rule over the country again". He said that Hindus come to Chisti’s shrine to 'bow' their heads.

It is worth mentioning that the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal were nabbed while they were allegedly running to the Ajmer Dargah.

The Ajmer Dargah is not new to controversy though.

It was at the centre of the infamous Ajmer Blackmail Kaand as the Ajmer 1992 serial gang-rapes have come to be remembered. The very memory of the horrific gang-rape of school-going girls in the nineteen-nineties continues to give chills and shivers to people.

Dark History of Ajmer Dargah: 1992 serial gang-rapes

The accused in the case were the famous Chishti duo—Farooq and Nafis—who were part of the extended family associated with the Ajmer Sharif Dargah.

These two also used to be influential leaders of the Youth Congress.

Both Farooq and Nafis have been accused of trapping hundreds of minors, school and college girls and threatened and blackmailed for months. They then used to gang-rape them.

The victims according to the local media were called the women "IAS-IPS ki betiyan (daughters of IAS and IPS officers)", but they were no elites. Most of them hailed from modest, middle-class families of government employees. Several of them have left Ajmer after the incident exploded.

How did the Ajmer gang-rape scandal start?

As reports go, it all started with Farooq Chishti, who belonged to the custodian family of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, befriending a minor girl from Ajmer's Sophia Girls School. He then lured her into a trap and clicked inappropriate photographs. He later started blackmailing her.

It wasn't the end, the brutality would allegedly continue and the duo were facilitated by their gang of loyal friends in trapping young girls into submission, gang-raping and blackmailing them into silence for months.

According to the police, a photo colour lab printed the inappropriate photographs of the women who were gang-raped, which were later circulated.

On 21 April, 1992, Rajasthan's Ajmer city woke up with the front page news on local daily ‘Dainik Navjyoti’ describing the horror and gruesome acts which were carried out by the Ajmer Dargah Chistis.

The paper even shared some objectionable photographs and a report which stated that school girls were being blackmailed by local gangs.

Where are Farooq and Nafis?

Farooq and Nafis were local celebrities and the victims were unknown women who wanted to hide their identity and that is why several of them changed cities or disappeared.

Farooq was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007, but in 2013, the Rajasthan High Court deemed he had served 'enough' time and therefore, released him. He is now staying in Ajmer where his social clout stays intact, as does that of his close family.

As for Nafis, he was absconding until 2003, before being caught by the Delhi Police while trying to escape, wearing a burqa. He is currently out on bail and respected in a similar way in Ajmer. He visits Dargah Sharif with his head high.

The other co-accused, Iqbal, Saleem Chishti, Syed Jamir Hussain, Naseem aka Tarzan and Suhail Ghani are also out on bail.

It is worth mentioning that the trial in Ajmer gang-rape case started in September 1992, and since then the police have filed six chargesheets, naming 18 accused (up from eight initially) and more than 145 witnesses. The Ajmer police suspect that more than 100 teens were exploited, but only 17 victims recorded their statements during the preliminary investigation.

Interestingly, the case has moved from the district court to the Rajasthan High Court, Supreme Court, Fast Track Court, Women Atrocities Court, and is currently in Ajmer’s POCSO court.

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