Court acquits Ajmer dargah 'khadim' and 5 accused of 'sar tan se juda' slogan

An Ajmer court acquitted on Tuesday, 16 July, all six people accused of raising the controversial 'sar tan se juda' slogan at the gates of the Moinuddin Chishti Dargah, following suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's derogatory comments against the Prophet in 2022.

Public prosecutor Gulam Nazmi said Ajmer Dargah khadim Gohar Chisti, Tazim Siddiki, Farook Zamali, Nasir, Riyaz Hasan and Moin have all been acquitted in the case.

He added that the grounds for the acquittal would be clear only after examining the court's order.

"All accused have been acquitted under all sections. An appeal against the verdict will be made after examining the order," he said.

He said the case was registered at Ajmer's Dargah police station under the relevant IPC sections for unlawful assembly, rioting and provocation to break the public peace, among others.

It was mentioned in the FIR that Gohar Chisti provoked people with the slogan 'Gustakhi-e-Nabi ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se Juda', broadcast over loudspeakers from a religious place. Roughly translated, it means 'There is only one punishment for insulting the Prophet — beheading'.

Chisti stood accused of delivering a 'hate speech' in the presence of police from the shrine's main gate, the Nizam Gate, on 17 June 2022, shortly before a rally of the Muslim community processed out against Sharma's remark.

Chisti, the main accused in the case, was arrested from Hyderabad in July 2022.

The trial was held in the court of an additional district judge.

Public prosecutor Gulam Nazmi said that apart from electronic evidence of the speech, eyewitnesses were examined as well. He claimed that it was after the controversial slogan was raised outside the dargah that tailor Kanhaiya Lal was murdered in Udaipur on 28 June.

Lal was murdered by two cleaver-wielding men for allegedly insulting Islam in his social media post.