'...“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.
'At around noon on February 25, when Mohammed Saeed Salmani was out buying milk for his family, he received a call from his younger son. An armed mob of around 100 people had entered their lane in Gamri extension, around 1.5 km from Khajuri Khas in Delhi, and were setting shops and houses on fire. Their four-storey house, too, had been torched, and his family had sought refuge on the roof.
'...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.
'While the national capital continues to burn in the pyre of communalism, we wouldn't know much about it if it weren't for the journalists, ground reporters who have been risking their lives to bring the horrific details on the ground to us... It is an extremely frustrating day for journalists in Delhi – we want to respond to distress calls coming from Muslim neighbourhoods, we want to document the violence, but going into these areas is risky because mobs are attacking reporters...
'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.
'On Monday, one police constable and a civilian were reported killed as reports of arson, gunfire and stone pelting violence came in from the North East Delhi area. Videos also showed the Delhi police standing by as mobs pelted stones. By the time The Wire‘s reporters caught up with what had happened, eyewitnesses on the ground had begun to refer to the areas where violence had occurred as ‘the war zone’...'
'This story is all about how things have been spiralling out of control in northeast Delhi and how misguided youths have decided to take the law in their hands by unleashing violence based on religious identity. My horrifying experience began when I reached Maujpur Metro Station around 12.15pm. I was taken by surprise when a Hindu Sena member suddenly approached me offering to put tilak on my forehead saying it would make my work “easier”. He could see me with cameras, which identified me as a photojournalist. However, he was insistent. “You are also a Hindu, bhaiya.
'Since Monday, North East Delhi has been on the boil. Hindutva mobs have unleashed large-scale violence against anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors, and there has also been violence and stone-pelting from the other side. Shots have also been fired in some parts of the district. Several shops and homes have been vandalised and set on fire, and vehicles have been torched. The violence has led to the death of at least seven persons and more than 100 have been injured. The situation remains volatile, with armed mobs patrolling the streets and continuing to torch homes and shops.
'At the Maujpur-Babarpur chowk, Hindutva supporters gathered around BJP leader Jai Bhagwan Goyal, who had led a rally of a 100-odd people minutes before he broke into a rant against Muslims. “Agar yahan rahna hai, toh khada hona hoga (‘If you want to stay here, then you will have to rise up’)” the 60-year-old saffron clad leader declared, even as his voice faded amidst chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Har Har Mahadev.” “Chaaron taraf se Muslims se gheere huye hai.
