Haunted by Ram Navami communal violence and their burnt homes, households shift to safer locations in riot hit Khargone
Express News Service
BHOPAL: Haunted by an evening of horrific communal violence and fearing recent violence within the coming days, some households have reportedly left their houses in Khargone city of Madhya Pradesh to shift to safer locations in the identical curfew-hit city or else shifted exterior the city to family’ locations in villages in the identical district.
The households who’ve left their houses resided in communally-sensitive areas together with Sanjay Nagar, Gaushala Road, Sarafa Bazar-Baniawadi, Bhavsar Mohalla and Pathanwadi.
A household of day by day wagers led by Parvati Bai resides in a makeshift shelter organized by some folks recognized to them in one other a part of Khargone city after their home was attacked and burnt within the worst-hit Sanjay Nagar locality. “We’re homeless now, neither have we our place to live nor anything proper to eat. Even our animals-livestock are without any fodder. We appeal to the government to save us from dying of hunger,” mentioned Parvati Bai with tears in her eyes.
Elderly girl, Ranjana Bhavsar and kin live with family now after a horrific April 10-11 evening of their home in Bhavsar Mohalla.
“It all started at around 8 pm on Ram Navami on April 10 and continued throughout the night. The unending crowd of rioters attacked houses with petrol bombs and stones and sounds of gunshots too were heard. They damaged the wall of our house with stones and petrol bombs. We remained locked from inside praying for safety to god. The rioters dared my son to come out of the house and face them if he belonged to our religion, but we stopped him from going out. It continued for around three hours and the police were nowhere to be seen, despite repeated phone calls. We never thought we would survive the entire night before finally, police in force rushed in the wee hours,” Ranjana mentioned in a shuddering voice.
Another resident of Bhavsar Mohalla locality, Vishal Bhavsar hasn’t left his home and desires to remain again. “Yes the situation was really bad for a day and a half, but with the massive police presence now, the situation is heading towards normalcy. We’ve suffered enormous material loss, but thanks to the police action now against the rioters, we’re ready to stay back.”
But a newspaper hawker who lived on hire with six months pregnant spouse and previous mom is not able to return quickly to the minority group dominated Pathanwadi locality, the place he has been residing on hire on the bottom flooring in the home of a Muslim man Azam Bhai since over twenty years.
“We stayed the entire night shivering with fear of being targeted by the rioters, who searched from one house to another, for our community people, but our landlord Azam Bhai ensured our safety. We’re alive today due to his support, despite people from his community baying for the blood of our people. On April 11 morning, we left for my maternal aunt’s place in Gogawan village, 15 km from Khargone town and will stay there only in near future,” the newspaper hawker mentioned by way of his title not being revealed within the information.
In the worst-hit Sanjay Nagar locality, for electrician Manish Gupta, the Ram Navami night communal violence revived the recollections of the Dussehra communal violence of 2015 when riots had been triggered by an assault on a Dussehra procession.
“My motorbike parked outside the house was set ablaze by rioters, but we remained safe, as the police had acted and controlled the situation within 2-3 hours at that time. But the violence this time was beyond imagination and the manner in which petrol bombs flew across the town, it seemed to be preplanned. At around 5 pm, I came to know about the Ram Navami procession having been attacked in the Talab Chowk area, which is just 1.5 km from our house. I immediately left my house in the Sanjay Nagar area with my parents, mother in law, sister in law, wife and two daughters and shifted to my paternal house in the adjoining Motipura area, which is dominated by our community. The next morning when I returned to my house in Sanjay Nagar, it was totally burnt and everything inside was gutted. Even the steel utensils were lying outside the burnt house,” Gupta mentioned.
Even the minority group members live in concern in some areas. A middle-aged man Islam has appealed to the federal government to compensate his and his brother’s household for his or her retailers which have been burnt in Bhatwari Mohalla near Sarafa Bazar. “The rioters were from other places and targeted shops and houses of our community. We appeal to the government to compensate us for losses as if someone does the crime, but somebody else is caught,” Islam mentioned.
When requested by the scribes in curfew clamped Khargone city on Tuesday about stories of many households leaving their houses and retailers behind to shift to safer locations in Khargone district and outdoors, the IG-Indore Zone Rakesh Gupta mentioned “all such matters are under investigation and everyone’s safety will be ensured.”
The SDM-Khargone Milind Dhoke, in the meantime, clarified that only a few households whose homes had been burnt in the course of the communal violence have shifted to safer locations/family’ homes and never left their homes behind completely.
