For three days, the women of Chandbagh stayed locked up in their homes, listening to the terrifying sounds of violence raging outside their...
For three days, the women of Chandbagh stayed locked up in their homes, listening to the terrifying sounds of violence raging outside their homes, fearing for their own lives and the lives of their families. On Thursday morning, as signs of life returned to the area, they finally stepped out to see a neighbourhood ripped apart, littered with the debris of a riot.
Chandbagh has been in the headlines as one of the most devastated areas in North East Delhi – its war-torn appearance now captured by several photographers and journalists. But for these Muslim women residents, Thursday brought them their first glimpse of it.
They walked around the neighbourhood in small groups until the police pushed them back into their lanes. Two elders shouted at them for coming out: “Go back home, don’t crowd together or else the police will use it to beat us again.”
As the women receded back into the narrow lanes, one young girl, 19-year-old Zeba Saifi who was visiting her aunt, refused to return. “Come with me. I want to show you what has happened to us,” she said. “The media is building an anti-Muslim kahani (narrative) but please film what I have to show.”
Her mother appeared to pull her...
