'As rioters set their two-storey house ablaze on Tuesday evening, Mohammad Idris Saifi and 10 family members ran up the steps to huddle on the roof, which slowly turned searing hot and got enveloped in smoke. “Prepare to die,” the attackers had shouted from below. But fortunately for the family, the roof did not collapse and the fire subsided on its own. For nearly 14 hours, Idris, 71, wife Jameela, 68, their two sons and their wives, and their five grandchildren — Musqan, 15, Nargis 13, Belal, 12, Abdal, 12, and Abbas, 8 — remained on the roof, muttering prayers.
'A saffron flag inscribed with “Jai Shri Ram” now flies atop one of the minarets of a mosque in northeast Delhi’s Gokalpuri neighbourhood. The mosque was gutted from inside, its walls sooty but still standing.
'BJP general secretary BL Santhosh on Thursday said Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s reaction to the violence in northeast Delhi was compelling “us to play a role in Presidential elections.” Sanders had shared the Washington Post’s report on the violence and slammed US President Donald Trump’s response, calling it “a failure of leadership on human rights.”...'
'A journalist with a Hindi news portal alleged on Wednesday that he was assaulted while filming in a riot-hit area and forced to drop his pants to check if he was circumcised. Susheel Manav, a journalist with Jan Chowk, said he was riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by theatre person Awadhu Azad at Lane 7 of northeast Delhi’s Maujpur when they were stopped. Lane 7 was where a head constable was killed by rioters on Monday...'
'The Mustafabad area in north east Delhi also saw violence on Tuesday evening as a Hindutva mob attacked the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest site, injuring several people including children. According to residents, a mob of around 50 men gathered in the area and began to pelt stones. At least two mosques in the area have been vandalised and attacked with stones, by the same mob. Residents told The Wire that men armed with rods and pistols gathered outside the mosques in the area and attacked them. At the time, several children were inside the mosque and were attacked.
'...Amid this, a group of around 50 people surrounded me and the clamour to check my phone grew because they were convinced I had clicked photos of the violence. They thumbed through my recent pictures and found no photo or video of the unrest. But they were not taken in and deleted all my photos and videos before returning the phone to me. “Why have you come here?” “Are you from JNU?”. These questions were asked before the group asked me to leave if I cared for my life.This was a precursor to what I was about to encounter...'
'...“They beat me till they broke me. I begged them and they beat me some more, viciously. They made communally charged slurs and took (BJP leader) Kapil Mishra’s name. I don’t remember much. I just hoped my children were safe. I can’t bear to look at my photograph, my legs shiver with pain,” Zubair told The Indian Express. Zubair had left his house on Monday morning to attend a local dua ka namaaz and was caught by protesters who, as per eyewitnesses, kept assaulting him with wooden sticks and iron rods till he lost consciousness.
'Videos surfaced on social media on Tuesday evening of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Abhay Verma making rounds of Laxmi Nagar market in his constituency with at least 150 supporters, chanting provocative slogans. Local shopkeepers in Laxmi Nagar confirmed that Verrma had visited the area. The video was tweeted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Rajya Sabha Member Sanjay Singh. Verma also happens to be the Delhi BJP vice-president, who defeated AAP’s Nitin Tyagi in the February 8 Assembly elections by a razor-thin margin of 880 votes.
'...After walking for about 200 meters, I saw a huge group of men standing in a corner and listening to a pundit, dressed in saffron clothes. When I got close, I clearly heard him say, "Musalmano ko jaisey hi dekho waisey hi maaro, upar se order aa gaye hain,” after which he left in a hurry. Curious and shocked, I asked one of the men who he was. "Paas ki mandir ke pundit hain ye, aap kaun hain?" "I live here inside these lanes," I said. "Let us drop you inside," they said. After telling them that I will manage on my own, I escaped and started walking inside one of the lanes of Maujpur.
'As a shop was set ablaze in Delhi’s Maujpur area on Monday afternoon, a middle-aged man with a saffron tikka on his forehead repeatedly asked reporters to stop filming the arson. “Bade dinon ke baad Hindu jaaga hai,” he said. “Hindus have woken up after long.” He did not want to identify himself, other than as a supporter of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Since December, India has seen nationwide protests against the amended law, which introduces a religious test for citizenship. Many fear it could be used with the proposed National Register of Citizens to harass Indian Muslims.
