DELHI'S SHAME

For four days, starting February 23, the very air of Delhi seemed combustible. In the city’s worst communal flare-up since 1984, many lives were lost, and homes, shops, belongings and dignity gutted as mobs went on the rampage. The politicians who lit the fire and the police force that often just stood by await an uncertain justice. These are the heartbreaking stories of some of the survivors

- SONALI ACHARJEE & SHWWETA PUNJ

BROKEN GAZE

A 19-year-old looks through a shattered window of Khajuri Khas’s iconic Fatima Mosque, which was destroyed by mobs on February 24

Note: Names of survivors have been withheld. The violence did not discriminate between people, all victims went through similar suffering and loss

INTO THE FIRE When the homes in Chandpur were set on fire on the evening of February 25, most families escaped the burning buildings by jumping on to the roofs of the neighbouring houses. Many jumped straight off the first or second floor of their homes on to the street. A group of friends from the area recall hearing their relatives call out from the adjacent lane. “They kept screaming, ‘Bhai, we are going to burn now, we can feel the heat starting to melt our skin, help us’,” says one 23-year-old. The group of boys tried to reach the police, but no one came to help them. “Eventually, people began to jump down. There was no other option. Our relatives are safe, but they have lost everything. The lanes that haven’t been attacked are now bursting with the homeless and the heartbroken,” he adds.