There was a long list of cases in which mafia brothers Atiq Ahmed and Khalid Azeem aka Ashraf were involved but of the over 100 cases, the one which ultimately proved to be detrimental to their political career was the‘ Madarsa Kand’.
Though the UP Police failed to establish the involvement of the brothers in this 2007 case, people say their complicity was an ‘unsaid truth’ known to all and finally put a full stop to their 44-year-long political career that eventually ended on April 15 after the duo was killed in police custody by three assailants.
On the outskirts of Prayagraj, on Kareli road in Mehmoodabad locality, lies a desolate structure – Madarsa Jamiyat-us-Swalihat Al Islamiya (Balika). This structure, which was home to more than 50 girls including orphans, has been a witness to the infamous ‘Madarsa Kand’ which is still fresh in the memories of the residents of Prayagraj.
The infamous episode
Of the many versions of the story, the UP Police’s take is that the incident was reported on January 17, 2007, when three armed assailants barged into the ‘Madarsa’ and forced the management to open the door.
“The girls who belonged to far-flung areas stayed in the ‘Madarsa’. The three assailants barged in and threatened the guard, forcing him to open the door. They were using abusive language against the girls and also tried to drag them,” read the information given by the guard to the management on the basis on which an FIR was lodged. The guard had also mentioned that the men tried to grab and hurt the girls (‘noch gasoot karne ka prayas kiya’).
However, another version of the ‘Madarsa Kand’ that is quite popular among the locals and the old journalists who covered the incident, states that after the miscreants barged into the ‘Madarsa’ on the directions of Atiq’s brother Ashraf, they picked up two girls, raped them brutally and then dumped them back at the ‘Madarsa’ the next morning.
Ashraf reportedly made frequent visits to the ‘Madarsa’ where he molested the girls at will. The January 2007 episode, however, was brought to light because of the condition of the two minors which had to be eventually reported to the police and authorities.
“An FIR was lodged and more than a dozen girls were mentioned but Ashraf’s name was kept out of the report at the behest of the then chief minister who visited the city at the same time to take a holy dip in Sangam during the ongoing Ardh Kumbh,” Anupam Mishra, a senior journalist who covered the incident, told News18.
Mishra said innocents such as the local tailors and rickshaw-pullers were implicated in the case. Soon, the girls and witnesses vanished and all the accused were exonerated by the court.
On March 8, 2009, two years after the sensational incident, the five men named as accused by UP Police were released from jail after a local court found no evidence against them, said senior police officials.
MA Khan, vice-president of the Lucknow Mahanagar BJP Alpsankhyak Morcha, who also hails from Prayagraj, said: “Police came under attack for their dubious role in the issue. They arrested five men — all people of modest means who earned their living by working as tailors — and accused them of gang rape. In their statements, the men said they were not involved in the crime but the police pressed ahead with their prosecution.”
Lambu alias Sheruddin, Munna Ekhlakh, Naushad Ahmad, Sheebu and Mohammad Bade — the accused in the ‘Madarsa Kand’ — heaved a sigh of relief when Additional Sessions Judge Brijesh Kumar Mishra acquitted them.
“In his order, the judge observed that there are contradictions among the eyewitnesses and witnesses regarding the timing of incident, identification of accused and other circumstantial evidence. The court cannot deny the incident, but the accused do not appear to be the culprits,” he said while referring to the order.
The episode, however, turned the predominant OBC Ansari community against Atiq Ahmed as nearly all the girls in the ‘Madarsa’ came from this section. “Neither Atiq nor Ashraf ever won any election after this episode. Atiq tried his luck from Shravasti and Kanpur but was defeated every time. The weakening political clout paved the way for the don to be challenged. So the case was actually the beginning of the end,” senior journalist Mishra added.
Atiq Ahmed remained a five-time MLA and one-time MP, whereas his brother remained an MLA after winning a by-election in 2005 from the Allahabad West seat.
Atiq was an MLA from 1989 to 2004 but none from his family managed to win after the 2007 incident. In the 2007 state assembly elections, Pooja Pal, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Allahabad West assembly seat, won the elections by securing 56,198 votes whereas Ashraf, a candidate from Samajwadi Party (SP), secured 45,876 votes.
In the 2012 state assembly elections, Pal won again by securing 71,114 votes whereas Atiq Ahmed, who fought elections on Apna Dal’s ticket, lost after securing 63,229 votes.
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