Azhar Qadri
SRINAGAR: A shocking statement of sexual abuse suffered by one of the four victims at the hands of the ‘devil dervish’ recorded by the Kashmir police has been leaked on a social networking site.
The 16-year-old victim told the police that the accused Syed Gulzar Ahmad Bhat had a few women accomplices she referred to as “madams”.
The accused used these “madams” to lure the victims into his room they called ‘Hujra-e-Pak’ or the sacred chamber, where he committed the crime.
She identified the two “madams” as Shakeela of Lolpora and Sumi of Hanjivera.
She said Shakeela had told her to go inside the room. “He (Gulzar) told me that your body is fire and my body is light, once your body merges with mine, your body will also become light.”
“My senses were numbed when he did so, I could not do anything,” the victim said. “I had gone there to do a course. The course is for two months and around 25 days after the course ended this happened to me,” the minor girl says in the statement.
In the audio clip leaked on social networking websites, the sixteen-year-old girl from a south Kashmir town is being interviewed by a police officer, who has confirmed the contents of the audio clip.
What Happened So Far
¶Gulzar Ahmed Bhat, who went by the name ‘Syed Gulzar’, and his two aides have been arrested for allegedly raping his young female students on the pretext of ‘purifying’ them.
¶Bhat ran a residential institution for girls which offered a two-months course in Islamic studies in Khansahib area of Budgam district.
¶Four girls have reportedly complained to the police that the ‘fake dervish’ would quote sayings in Arabic to justify his sexual activity with them. Another five have reportedly come forward with their complaints.
¶Gulzar would allegedly manipulate verses of the Quran to hide the fact that adultery and fornication were punishable in Islam. He is accused of raping nearly 200 girls at the hostel.
¶’Syed Gulzar’ has been preaching his interpretation of Islam in the valley for nearly a decade now. Of late, he would give advertisements in newspapers claiming to be a Sufi and also delivered sermons through local cable TV network in the valley.
(TNS, with added inputs)
