THE communal violence has led to tragic loss of lives, extensive destruction of livelihoods, homes and property. The areas where the violence took place have a large population comprising unorganised workers, working class and lower middle class households of both communities. Thousands have become victims of the violence in different ways and suffering and distress are widespread. Urgent steps are required to provide relief, rehabilitation and legal aid for the distressed people. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) has given a call for relief fund collection to all its state units. It has also appealed to people to donate generously for relief to the affected. In Delhi, a ‘Delhi Solidarity Relief and Rehabilitation Committee’ has been formed to undertake relief operations in order to reach out to all sections of the affected people. Justice V Gopala Gowda (former Supreme Court Judge), Brinda Karat (CPI(M) Polit Bureau member), Harsh Mander (director, Centre for Equity Studies) and Wajahat Habibullah (former chairperson of the National Minorities Commission) are associated with the work of this committee. The committee is cooperating with the Delhi government in relief work and its aim is to supplement the efforts of the government. There are four teams working under the committee to extend relief to the distressed people.

The survey team is doing a survey of the people affected, loss of livelihood and other damages incurred. This was necessitated since the state government released a form to be submitted by victims for claiming compensation. It was felt important that victims fill these forms and provide full details of the loss that they have suffered. However, given that many victims have lost almost everything in their homes including basic documents, and in view of the trauma many victims have been going through, they needed assistance in filling this form. Also, the survey form of the government misses important information about socio-economic conditions of these families; does not capture full details of the violence and destruction that was unleashed on these households, and does not cover issues such as loss of livelihoods that most of these families continue to face. In view of this, the survey team is also collecting additional details about many of these aspects. The team is compiling, for each victim, whatever evidence can be obtained from the victims. The details of the loss to movable property including household articles are also being collected. The questionnaire is collecting information on sexual harassment faced by women during the riots. The additional questionnaire also includes details of where these families relocated after their houses were destroyed and what concrete relief measures do they need the most. The loss of livelihood and the present needs for relief in concrete terms (food, clothes, medicines, household goods and other needs) is part of the questionnaire. The team has so far covered Khejuri Khas Extension, Chand Bagh, Bhajanpura and Idgah Mustafabad Camp. In Khejuri Khas, Chand Bagh and Bhajanpura, a large number of houses, shops and vehicles belonging to Muslims were burnt by rioters. In many cases, the mobs looted the houses. In many cases, they took out all assets from shops, piled them on the road, and burnt it in full public view. The pattern of destruction bore clear signs of careful planning to target specific communities. Volunteers doing the survey found out that, in most cases, the police had refused to file FIRs. A large number of migrant workers, many of whom lived as tenants in the houses that have been burnt, have lost all their belongings in the riots. In most areas, the police force was either a mute spectator or actively supported the rioters. It is expected that the survey team would cover over 500 victim families by the end of this week and a detailed report will be prepared immediately.

The second team is looking after the relief distribution part. The relief materials like food items, clothes, linen and other household articles are being supplied on a regular basis both to the camps as well as in some of the localities already surveyed. Thousands of kits containing groceries, clothes, sheets and utensils are being prepared and distributed.

A third team led by Brinda Karat is reaching out to the families of the deceased and the injured consoling the family members and extending relief and legal aid. She has already visited several families of deceased and injured persons. On March 1, she met the grieving family of Faizan who had been beaten and made to sing the national anthem by his attackers while he was in a seriously injured condition. Worse the Delhi police kept him in their custody instead of ensuring his treatment. He was released only after he became critical. Later he succumbed to his injuries. She also met Rafiq who was also seriously injured in the same inhuman incident. On February 28, Naim, a 24 year old was picked up from the main road when he was returning from work, dragged into a car and very badly beaten. The fact that such an attack took place when the area is supposedly normal shows the continuing failure of the Delhi police.

The legal team has taken up the task of filing of FIRs and MLCs covering the families of the deceased, injured and those suffered losses. Already many glaring lapses in assessment of damages to life and property from the state revenue department is coming forth. The Delhi Police administration, under the direct control of the central home ministry, is in no mood to shed its ‘unprofessional’ attitude even in the relief work. There have been many instances of denial to lodge FIRs, with individual FIRs lodged for just a handful of cases, in a scenario of large scale destruction of life and property.

Along with this, the Party all over Delhi is also doing a house-to-house campaign against the politics of hate which the RSS-BJP have been trying to rake up. The campaign is to expose the communal agenda of the Sangh Parivar, make people aware about the devastation caused by recent communal riots, and appeals to people to defeat the agenda of hatred and violence.

Loss and Courage of Working Class Families
These are some of the profiles of some of the victims that the team led by Brinda Karat met.
Ashfaq Hussain
“Those who are against humanity are against all religions”
Agaz Hussain said these words about those who had killed his son Ashfaq. Ashfaq, who had got married exactly ten days before he was killed, was an electrician. His closest friend Rohit and he used to work together. Both of them had taken the responsibility of working free for the electrical maintenance of all the mandirs and masjids in the area. They were getting ready to provide lights to the temples in the area for the Holi celebration. He was shot dead by men who had come to attack the anti-CAA women’s protest site in the area. Ashfaq who was returning from work tried to save the women. He was shot dead with five bullet wounds. His face was cut with a sword. The anger at his death caused tensions in his area where there were 25 Hindu families. It was Agaz Hussain, his father who went to each Hindu home and assured them of safety. Ashfaq’s mother and new bride were unable to speak. Loss and courage. Salute this brave family.
Amir and Hashim
“Who listens to the poor? What happened should never happen to any other mother or father whether they are Hindu or Muslim”: Babu Khan, father of two sons killed.
On February 26, when the north east was supposedly “under control” two young men, brothers Amir and Hashim were returning from Ghaziabad to their home in Mustafabad, north east Delhi. Amir a former worker in a small textile unit had shifted to his mother’s natal home in Ghaziabad when he lost his job. He was working as a driver. His wife and two little girls were with his parents in Mustafabad. Hashim, his youngest brother was just 17 years old. He had gone to Ghaziabad to visit his brother. Babu Khan, a tailor working in a nearby factory, says he had sent him there to avoid the trouble in Delhi. On the 26th, Babu Khan believed the assurances of the central government that everything was under control and allowed his sons to come back to Delhi. They were on a motorcycle. They were stopped by a gang on the main road. Till then they were in touch with their father. Then there was an ominous silence. Two days later, their mutilated bodies were found in the drain. Their mother Asghari is inconsolable as is Amir’s young wife. Babu Khan clutches his chest as though he is stopping his heart from breaking “even animals would not be so cruel... what hatred drove them to such brutality? We always had peace in this area.”
Prem Singh
The Delhi communal violence has led to a tragic loss of families across the religious divide. The team met and expressed their condolences and solidarity with the families of Prem Singh, a rickshaw puller who was brutally killed in mob violence. His family belonged to Kashganj district in Uttar Pradesh and lived here in a rented room. Prem Singh had gone out to buy milk and did not return.
Rahul Thakur
Rahul Thakur was preparing for Civil Services exam. He had stepped out to see the commotion in the main street and was shot in the chest. He was taken to the GTB hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
Rahul Solanki
Rahul Solanki was a junior engineer at Prestige. He had gone out to buy milk from Pal Dairy at Dairywali Gali when he was shot. Several nursing homes refused to admit him, and he lost his life while he was being taken to a hospital in Loni, Ghaziabad. The family was aggrieved at the fact that no police protection was provided to them.
Vinay Kumar
The team also met a 15 year old student who was shot in the arm while he was standing at the window of his home. A student of Class 9, his father earns his living by ironing clothes.
Shahban
“Our lives are over the day I saw my son’s lifeless bodies”: Aziz Ahmed, father of Shahban
He was just 22 years old; young, fun loving, his life ahead of him. Aziz is a construction worker. His son is a skilled welder, skilled enough to run his own shop in a rented place. On February 24, he had left to get a welding machine from the neighbouring area of Chand Bagh. That was an area affected by communal violence. Aziz waited to hear from his son. After four tortuous days of running from one hospital to another to find his son, he learnt four days later that his son was caught and killed.
I died a thousand deaths in those four days of waiting for my son, but today you see I am alive and my young boy is dead. What terrible times that an old father should have to go to look for his son’s body. The boy’s mother is in our village. Will she ever be able to come back here? I curse the day I lived and my son died...”
Are there any answers?


DEMANDS

• FIRs to be filed in cases of atrocities/violence by the police as well as cases of custodial violence.

• The state revenue department and the Delhi Police should together set up adalats in affected areas to facilitate filing of FIRs and collection of photographic/video-graphic evidence.

• Compensation must cover the loss of property including household durables, assets in shops, and other valuables of the victim families. Compensation must also be provided to tenant households.

• Counseling facilities must be provided to families and persons who are dealing with the worst kind of trauma after the violence.

• Other facilities such as medical facilities and education should be provided to displaced families.