A couple of Hindu households in north-east Delhi’s Shiv Vihar area offered shelter to 20 members of two Muslim families when mobs went on the rampage targeting people and establishments belonging to the minority community.
The families fled their homes on Tuesday and were housed by Hindu families in Gali Number 4 of Shiv Vihar. The police reached the spot on Wednesday and evacuated them to a safer location.
Mohammad Rizwan, who works at a salon, said that they had been living in the Hindu-dominated area for the past 30 years and had never witnessed any communal violence.
His shop was located on the ground floor of the house and a majority of his customers were Hindus.
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“I do not know what happened... a mob entered my shop and vandalised it. I somehow managed to save my life while my family members were rescued by my neighbour Pankaj Gupta. As we share a terrace, he jumped to our side and helped my family get to his terrace... he safely took them to his house,” he said.
The other family was also saved in a similar fashion by Vikas Singh, who rescued seven members of a Muslim family and gave shelter to them in his house.
Rukshar, a housewife, said she was in the kitchen when she heard a commotion in the lane outside her house. Before she could understand what was going on, her brother-in-law burst in shouting about a mob heading towards their home.
“We rushed to our neighbour for help and they gave us shelter. Our two-wheeler parked outside was torched,” said Ms. Rukshar.
Muslim families from Mustafabad have started leaving the area after the violence that lasted three days. The families said that armed men wearing masks came and set fire to slum dwellings and vehicles in different parts of the area.
Shaukat Ali, a resident of Mustafabad, said that after three days he managed to come out of the place where he had taken shelter when riots broke out. “My children are untraceable after the violence. My house was torched during the riots and I have lost everything that I had saved in my life. I am going to stay with my relatives in Ghaziabad,” said Mr. Ali, who works as a labourer.
