Photographs and Text by Sandy Ford
03 September, 2020
We’re glad this article found its way to you. If you’re not a subscriber, we’d love for you to consider subscribing—your support helps make this journalism possible. Either way, we hope you enjoy the read. Click to subscribe: subscribing
{
"type": "gallery",
"attrs": {
"title": "Something"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "paragraph",
"content": [
{
"text": "Put your pictures here",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15805",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/folJkddQl3hdlJrlLzrAgYmxOTpIL0lVQ0abQsBhmXeZsc_Boix1PvqZPQBYZ63xrN-Zn7udXgUEUDx890EkmCOP=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Shammi, a 38-year- old resident of Khajuri Khas, looks at the damage done to her home after an attack by mobs with petrol bombs.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15893",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/Y493xRObhXyydPQuL7reftQ3LohV9bSv4MDiYhOlnRIxAsThEG0Ogk9uxwQwkqeQPfUkbhxb2aUVzLvpdZSR8-tK=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Local residents of Khajuri Khas, who had to flee their homes and business during the violence, came back to visit their street. Many of the Muslim homes and vehicles had been set on fire and were destroyed.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15807",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/7YQcpdvDPmNtUiHasqon4BGXRamb7LRny8yBi_baZNc32eXmji9pN_jg_n_CwKWdx-lSDCS32_ezte9SkLMYPIjyfA=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Security personnel at Gokulpuri tyre market, deployed to keep watch on the damaged business properties.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15808",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/ml-qAAUUqFBR9C21TXbU60Gk7TE42cSP1Ab1vMpQLSLNVHpS5qLVabbTJIT5KDNCdVwNzYDx2ZrSWQNMEn_TdKwCNg=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Meena, 60 years old, had a 27-year-old son, Zakir. He worked as a welder and was killed on 25 February by repeated knife attacks by a mob chanting “Jai Shree Ram,” when he was offering afternoon prayers at Farooqia Masjid. He is survived by his wife, Muskan, and two children. Meena, along with Zakir’s sister, Shama Parveen, recounted instances of abuse from their respective husbands. Apart from being the only breadwinner in the family, Shama regarded him as the “one and real advocate in my life” who would “protect me and my mother from my abusive husband, abusive father and stepfather.” They said they are afraid for their future without Zakir.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1281,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15894",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/pVa5fb_UJw08U3YfQ_44UG2qY0U3dOI0ti2GPPHswyCH02vPAVbSqC36NP3Y6ccPmgrU6bHtrYaUSFEkUbVV1Jh97A=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " Mohammad Furkan, 30 years old, was shot and killed on 24 February as he tried to rescue a copy of the Quran from a local protest site near his home, while on his way to the market. He worked with his father and brother in their family’s artisan business.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15810",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/V4bSne9SKWfvab0A5JYhF6PneXl1r_rscRfk5WIxTz2ZjA7ijVdSBOkwKF9gEyMEHWjVAMVfnJQ_rXNJEUopccUK3cg=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Twenty-two-year-old Jyoti, showing a photo of her brother, Rahul Solanki. Rahul was an engineer. He died on 24 February, after being shot in the throat while on his way to get milk for the family at the local dairy. He was declared dead at GTB hospital. His family no longer felt safe in their home and left to live in another area.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15811",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/kxoCr8trulWQ2sYwiaKrhRoRXpHgRp9b5oYSgJEaaiBlVMEP8ZRo6TQXn-7pj_miepUF3k70MCq3Cm9vzv6upPDpzCo=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " Faizan, 23 years old, was a tailor. While going back to work after lunch, he was attacked and beaten by the police on 24 February. His injured body was seen lying next to others who were being beaten and forced to sing the national anthem, according to a video of the incident that went viral. He was then kept in police custody for nearly two days and subsequently died at the hospital to which he was taken. The family tried to press charges against the police but his mother, Kismatoon, said they were forced to drop the case.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15895",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/Tk39JFxNwfZBY8eXFN7GVHsy-eUPzDcxv8QwUf5Cc0y9mZx_F812TYgobex6wUInR15meCggUl7XGzfOSx_-r-kDTg=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Mohammad Wakeel, 42 years old, a rickshaw owner and driver in Khajuri Khas, lost his source of livelihood when his vehicle was torched and burned by a mob.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15813",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/fcdxevfsZ6xCztj8JFQc-5m5aUaNPz50dW7kg6n_69r_w6FRLVJs6Sp83sT4lnIEjQrHLs9TmkIuPxi-9XmM0Dh5PQ=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Jannati, 38 years old, sits in her damaged home, which had been attacked and set on fire by mobs using petrol bombs. Her house was looted and burnt. She and her husband fled to their relatives.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15814",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/iTWK5WtjuN0bGq6Q9TrrwtOK47fIJpnX9jOMMcknvxhKJKpOm-TZo1ccKGJYLRPoJDGljHyekiPrNAiUYJIpJ5Ue6Q=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A member of a visiting Muslim delegation checking the damage done to Tayyaba Masjid in Shiv Vihar. The mosque was attacked by Hindutva vigilantes, vandalised and torched by firebombs and gas cylinders.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15896",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/zwN3vEgyM_qWs-GxlLz9pwSd7OYEXWF-a1Om4e5fIAIIuJ3xYv6kse4BdpBhZ0PK8KyktX6Z3l-Tcc9yjYyoVcvJ=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " Jitender Sharma, 40 years old, was the owner of a recently renovated pharmacy in Mustafabad. His medical store was torched and burned to the ground.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15816",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/jrLP41TBQpO4YSZamCfZNkVg9NTGr7mssKbaTxGnK5gFVgYxAQCHAOuEojrs4xlfoOCcG8YIhA4-d-3rn13HDe8821Y=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " People displaced by the Delhi violence wait for medical check-ups.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15817",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SQBSbU_AvWGZMy5rURZdvxit2sYsevGKdoSoU8hY-aEfXxfD992CVzDTj8I9yqE_tiNt3Xk787ATTXJF4SHuXo5KQ=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "People wait for medical check- ups and medicines, at a facility set up by Aman Biradari—a non-governmental organisation that also provided legal assistance, food and rations.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15818",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/zUU7VYpIkRA15amj-mmdcRjDVRhPjlBaDqqmIk8jJ8--Qhz1z2U4-8eQenSiA7xKSohNTLAtPWPU1vow4_HsXGuDZ60=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Sameena Khatun, 48 years old, receives treatment from a volunteer doctor. She was recovering from a kidney-stone operation when she had to flee from her home in Johripur, to go to relatives in Mustafabad on 26 February. The disruption in her treatment process caused the site of her wound to become infected, for which she received treatment from a volunteer doctor.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15819",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/Dwbjnm_AD0StEYruFmS19xEy0rrqf-jSF5DvS4eF8JGtLXSmbMPZEc3o-qP3wAwLBo6YPgsXdNechoHLKoB2dsFRyjA=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " Mohammad Iliyas, 50 years old, and Farzana, 45 years old, residents of Khajuri Khas, returned to examine the damage done to their house and plywood business on the ground floor of their home. They had fled on 25 February to relatives, while the violence was ongoing. Their home and business was looted and burned.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1308,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15820",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/1bERByGgUVStNOlZTkiUkLNcT_nOu1nRUFiar6gCP3MZpphahIzJR9KuBrMlEpQyM6d7q8FxluiLKJv9mlJdDVTLUQ=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Remains of a torched and looted residential home in Khajuri Khas. The family had fled during the violence and had not yet returned by end February, when this image was shot.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15821",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/EJWLkAgtA-gC2RTIBX-V1ZLMqO1cHG6o0CH20qg6Bq94p6ZxtT4yJ3USJNOnwjO_wKmpiLT8X0lUnqKWRd3kxxKV=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " Fifty-two-year-old Mohammad Wakeel, four months after he was attacked by a mob, which threw acid at his face. He was admitted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, where he was treated for severe burns and vision loss. It is still unclear whether it will return. He was discharged following the advent of COVID-19. His family has been taking care of him in a rented home, and are trying to attend outpatient appointments and get psychiatric treatment for him.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15822",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/O45evW1e_YgXaKKWf-qJshTamI5IHLMLxpY9s1voC1bvbzCeVXVlwLCawKhAdv0BN8KuK3xAKJ-U-fHgFi0tzP5_ag=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " A man taking a picture of the messages left by other Muslim visitors at Farooqia Masjid, in Mustafabad. A mob and police officers attacked, vandalised and torched the mosque, using firebombs, tear gas and gas cylinders.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1274,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15823",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/BmQ07C0Nwh9DKIBEVFb5sRDTn6eArk-OukUQrPZckUcnIlX7PI5hXpM6FZvaemSGN7VnV8ybikGX-SKHOIQLlFfssqY=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A wall in DRP School, Shiv Vihar, which was burnt and vandalised by a mob.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15824",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/6NoPJVDvLIRlN5sHparMFjuPc8yuEt8xBT6KUHdkbLWUD4f0HDoR4TLpvoEHVupRrXfc1Re_UWcBKY0uUYeDqRQZUPk=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Rubina, a 35-year-old resident of Shiv Vihar, returned to visit her house which had been looted and torched by a mob. She and her family became homeless after their rented home was burned down.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15825",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/fNOhDBX6Nw6JFj1hH15nzxbaZbYQtKPeJy3EHzDS0AMGTWai7Sv07nErtyK1aqyg3diKkz7H1luyPC9t98cvjeMUwE4=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Khushnudi, the mother of 23-year-old Mehtab, who was killed on 25 February after he went out to buy milk in Brijpuri for the family. Upon returning, he found the iron gate of his street locked. Deciding to take another street, Mehtab was then beaten and burned alive. His burnt body was found in a nearby nursing home. Mehtab was a construction labourer and, his mother said, dreamed of being a film actor.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15826",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/HFJ3GQQcfS4SuzvGX4s-AMtQhDo0P5sNyzmeuPR_UAfxBpkv_2vLgd9vcybWn9wf4Oq2TLWEeDGwNZp1uWu-y76Q=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": " The municipal corporation of Delhi cleaning up damaged and torched vehicles from the streets of Khajuri Khas.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15827",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/I0XZq0nXiyTrzkPNqk2E6MpMiXORmNdCTSqeN1U5SoVCmwE3qwC1_Mhpm3zcD08Y2tenz2f9a7Nc9FJy2bwUnFPs2g=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Local residents in Mustafabad welding an iron gate constructed at the entrance to their street. Such gates were constructed in many northeastern Delhi neighbourhoods in the aftermath of the violence, as residents no longer felt safe.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15828",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/KiEqlvTs6Xjc0vXcsNORlhkENopSh-otsPS0bqCCEYZFLUfe8Yzj62Lu-g_L7zGA3onU6Jen-94LgvQcYil-44ySw7c=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Remains of a torched and looted residential home in Khajuri Khas. The occupant of the house had fled during the violence. He was a tailor, who subsequently lost his source of livelihood.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1282,
"w": 1920,
"id": "15829",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/LBNFgbUmvsjPm-QeRNJEG1y7bpaTCQ1Em8p0CpiTEAIOm97Ci9iuJBcvmPYWXLdMYAWJaLn8phr6iBrXWfdqNul5dw=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A Muslim woman resident returned to her burnt home in Shiv Vihar, where she was waiting to meet a team of lawyers.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit"
}
]
}
]
} I first visited the neighbourhoods of northeastern Delhi, a city I have known for the past two decades and lived in for the last four years, in February, immediately after the area had witnessed a spate of anti-Muslim violence. I had been photographing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act across the city in the months prior, and so my visit to this area was a natural progression of the work I had been doing. I had become interested in the protests particularly because they were women-driven forms of resistance, with participants cutting across ages and backgrounds. As I spent time sitting among them, and listening to the speeches, I was moved by their solidarity towards each other and their vision for India.
Despite having worked for 15 years on health and humanitarian issues, and with an education in nursing, psychology and sociology, when I first arrived in Khajuri Khas, I felt numb and overwhelmed. It was unlike anything I had experienced before, and I felt myself wandering in a kind of daze, in an effort to make sense of what I was witnessing. Many police and military forces were visible. Homes, vehicles, businesses and mosques had been burned and looted. The area was filled with the smell of smoke and covered with ash, and though there were few people in the streets, they looked fearful and upset.
As I made my way around the neighbourhood, finding it intrusive to walk into people’s homes amid the remains of their destroyed lives, I witnessed an argument. A Muslim woman, who had returned home to check her belongings, became upset upon seeing her burnt house. She was shouting in the street that she felt betrayed by her Hindu neighbours, whom she had trusted her whole life, that they had not helped her but instead had helped the attackers. “Bahar walon se kya umeed lagaye jab gali ke logo ne hi hamare ghar jalwaye ho?”—how can we hope others to help when our people from our own lane have burnt our house, she shouted. Her Hindu neighbours yelled back that she should watch her mouth. They had not burnt her house, they said, and if they had, her people would not have survived. The tension, horror and sadness of what had transpired was palpable, as was the almost overnight erosion of trust between communities.
Thanks for reading till the end. If you valued this piece, and you're already a subscriber, consider contributing to keep us afloat—so more readers can access work like this. Click to make a contribution: Contribute