Farooq Chishti

Some Lesser Known Facts About Farooq Chishti

• Farooq Chishti is a former Indian politician and Khadim (caretaker) of Ajmer Sharif Dargah who was found guilty in the Ajmer Rape & Blackmail Case that occurred in the early 1990s.

• Once he finished his formal education, he got involved in local politics and eventually became the President of the Indian Youth Congress in Ajmer.

  

• In 1990, a young girl named Gita, who was a Class 12 student at Savitri School in Ajmer, decided to join the Congress party. She then met an acquaintance named Ajay, who said he knew people, Nafis and Farooq Chishti, who could assist her in pursuing her aspirations.

• During their conversations, Gita mentioned her wish for a gas connection, which was important at that time. Ajay used this opportunity and introduced her to Nafis and Farooq Chishti, assuring her that they could be trusted for any work. Farooq and Nafis had multiple meetings with Gita in the company of Ajay, where they made promises to help her secure a position within Congress. They even gave her forms to fill out, which included a requirement for a passport-sized photograph.

• Gita didn’t suspect any wrongdoing when Nafis and Farooq offered her a ride one day while she was on her way to school; however, they took her to a farmhouse against her will. Once she was alone with Nafis, he raped her and took nude photos of her. They later assaulted her again and threatened of harming her if she told anyone about it.

  

• After that, they used manipulative tactics to make Gita introduce Nafis and Farooq to other girls, pretending to be her ‘brothers,’ to gain their trust. These girls were then invited to gatherings, which they called ‘parties,’ at the farmhouse or Farooq’s bungalow on Foy Sagar Road.

• Many women experienced sexual assault by one or more attackers during such ‘parties’. They took pictures of these assaults to control and silence the survivors through shame and blackmail. The gang reportedly exploited over 250 schoolgirls and college girls.

  

• The sexual assault images were circulated further when some employees at the photo lab, where the phots were developed from the negative reels, shared them. This unintentionally brought the case to the public’s attention. Purshottam, a reel developer, bragged about these inappropriate images to his neighbour, Devendra Jain, who was looking at a pornographic magazine. Purshottam claimed to have even more explicit images, calling them the ‘real stuff.’

• Devendra made copies of the pictures and sent them to the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) group and the newspaper Dainik Navajyoti. The VHP workers then gave the pictures to the police, leading to an official inquiry.

• On 21 April 1992, Santosh Gupta, a local reporter, wrote his initial report for Dainik Navajyoti, discussing the issue of sexual exploitation. But it wasn’t until the newspaper published a second report on 15 May 1992 with blurred images of the survivors that people took notice, and there was an immediate outcry. The shocking revelations and images caused public anger, leading to a complete shutdown of activities in Ajmer on 18 May as a protest against the terrible crime.

  

• An FIR numbered 90/1992 was filed at Ganj Police Station in Ajmer about rape and blackmail. On 27 May 1992, the police issued National Security Act (NSA) warrants against some of the accused involved in the case, which was a significant step. Three days later, Hari Prasad Sharma, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of North Ajmer, lodged another FIR at Ganj Police Station. Following this, N. K. Patni, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the CID-Crime Branch from Jaipur, was sent to Ajmer to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

  

• Among the eighteen individuals involved in the case, Purshottam died by suicide in 1994. Initially, eight suspects faced trial and were sentenced to life imprisonment by the district sessions court in 1998; however, in 2001, the Rajasthan High Court acquitted four of them, and in 2003, the Supreme Court reduced the sentences of the remaining four to ten years.

• Later, the rest of the accused were arrested and brought to trial at different times over the next few decades. Farooq pleaded mental incompetence to stand trial, but in 2007, a fast-track court declared him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment; however, in 2013, the Rajasthan High Court considered that he had served an adequate period, leading to his release. ^[1]Indian Kanoon ^[2]Indian Kanoon

  

• After his release, Farooq Chishti has been living a comfortable life in Ajmer. As of 2023, he is seen visiting the Dargah Sharif often, and some people still follow the tradition of kissing his hands. Public opinion in the city has been critical of Farooq’s treatment, especially because of his connection with the esteemed Khadim family, where he is considered a respected elder.

  

• In 2021, a web series titled ‘Ajmer 1992’ was announced, based on the events of the 1992 Ajmer Rape Scandal, which was later shelved due to unknown reasons. In July 2023, the film ‘Ajmer 92‘ was released, featuring actors Karan Verma, Sumit Singh, and Rajesh Sharma, and also directed by Pushpendra Singh.