At least 27 people were killed as of Wednesday after anti-Muslim violence erupted in North East Delhi on Sunday.
Muslims and their properties were targeted in the anti-Muslim violence led by Hindu right-wing extremists.
An 85-year-old woman was burnt to death in her home in Delhi’s Gamri extension, Scroll In reports. Mohammed Saeed Salmani’s mother, 85-year-old Akbari, died in the fire on the third floor of their house. The building itself was burnt, including the family’s tailoring workshops on the first two floors. Salmani claims that the mobs also looted him of Rs 8 lakh and all the family jewelry stored in the building. “I have nothing left, I am zero,” he told Scroll.in. My mother was old and could not run or cope with all the smoke – she died in the house only,” said Salmani. “If I had been there, perhaps I would have been able to get her up to the roof.”
Journalists say that the treatment to patients with critical injuries has been delayed, and no ambulance services provided, even for one who allegedly lost both his eyes in the violence the night before.
Almost 40 people injured in the violence, some with severe injuries, have been waiting at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan or LNJP Hospital in Delhi, Neha Dixit, an independent journalist reports.
The Delhi High Court heard pleas on the violence and said that it could not let riots similar to the anti-Sikh violence in 1984 happen again. The court has ordered security for citizens, 24-hour helplines, adequate ambulances, and shelters, and also pulled up the Delhi Police for not filing FIRs against saffron party leaders for making incendiary speeches.
The court played a video of senior BJP leader and main instigator of anti-Muslim violence Kapil Mishra’s incendiary speech from Sunday, and two by other saffron party leaders after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and a Delhi Police officer present in court claimed that they had not watched it.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the situation was alarming and that the Army should be called in as the police were unable to handle it.
Kejriwal is being criticized by many for “inaction” regarding the anti-Muslim violence that is ongoing since Sunday.
The Congress blamed both the central and the Delhi governments for the violence and sought the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah for failing to restore normalcy.
