Five minor girls deposed before a court that he had raped them repeatedly on the pretext of ‘purifying’ them of all evil. But in Shamsabad, few are ready to believe this.
Rakib Altaf
SHAMSABAD: At Krimshoo village in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, shops are closed and people are out on the streets, protesting, visibly frustrated.
They want a 42-year-old man to hang or at least be given the most strict punishment.
“He has brought bad name to our entire area,” says Ghulam Nabi Bhat, a white-bearded local prayer leader, spearheading the protests.
A grinning young boy called the man against whom he is protesting a ‘Zina-Tchoor‘ – a Kashmiri slang for a repeated fornicator.
But barely a few kilometers away in Shamsabad village, men and women are simply ready to sacrifice their lives for the same man. For them he is a true saint who brought them closer to God.
It is here that Gulzar Ahmed Bhat alias Syed Gulzar lived and later set up a residential institution offering a crash course in spirituality for girls.
“I swear on the Prophet, he is Haqq (a true saint). We did not even know how to pray and he taught us all,” says a woman, Gulzar’s neigbour.
‘Strong Evidence’
Gulzar Bhat was arrested last week on charges of raping his young students at the hostel. Five minor girls deposed before a court that he had raped them repeatedly on the pretext of ‘purifying’ them of all evil.
One of the victims has told the police that Gulzar forced her on the bed and bit her on the cheek. When she resisted, an oil lamp fell on her clothes and the dress has been preserved as part of evidence.
A CID or Criminal Investigations Department officer says the police have also seized the mattress on which Gulzar would allegedly rape his victims. They found huge traces of semen on it.
“The stains were left because Gulzar would not release inside his victims, but on the mattress itself. He knew very well how to avoid pregnancy in the girls,” he says.
However, the plan could have possibly failed once. A girl who studied at the institution is believed to have gone into mental depression and was taken back to her home in a south Kashmir village.
She later burnt herself to death.
“May be she had conceived after being raped by Gulzar and thought that ending her life would save her the trauma,” the official says.
There is still a lot of investigation needed to prove that Gulzar drove the young girl to suicide. But the police believe they have strong evidence to prove he is indeed a rapist.
‘Ready to Die’
In Shamsabad, however, few are ready to believe this.
A group of villagers willingly talks to every stranger that visits Gulzar’s house. They seem quick to vouch for his divinity. “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for him,” says an emotional neighbour.
“He has played in my lap and I know he was religious from a young age.”
The villagers say Gulzar left his wife just after seven days of marriage because of his religious schedule. “He told us not to pester him as he was following God’s commandments,” says his step-father.
Abdul Hamid Kumar, a resident of Tangmarg in Baramulla district, has been Gulzar’s disciple for six years now. He says his Bab – priest – is a victim of “malicious agenda”.
“The girls who say they were exploited first told this on 9th December last year. Then they left because they could not prove it. Now after seven months this thing has surfaced again. They must have been planning till now,” Kumar says.
“I don’t know which agency is provoking them. His enemies are jealous because he has lakhs of followers.”
He says among those who have been deposing against Gulzar is his former disciple from Srinagar, Imtiyaz Ahmed.
“He was the head of all the male disciples. Then when we set up this girls institution he wanted to be its head also. But Bab refused.” According to him, it was then that Ahmed started sulking and turned against his ‘spiritual mentor’.
But what about medical reports that confirmed the rape of girls? Gulzar’s another disciple, Mohammed Rafiq Dar says “the girls have been out of here for a long time now.”
“Anything could have happened outside, you never know,” he says.
However, despite their strong faith, Gulzar’s die-hard followers have nothing to prove that allegations against him are baseless. They only believe that “justice will prevail in the hereafter.”
“God is just, that’s all.”
Pingback: ‘Rapist’ Dervish’s Follower Says Cops ‘Gangraped’ Her - Free Press Kashmir