Friday, March 29, 2024

‘What will I do with this child,’ two-month pregnant women whose husband killed by Hindutva mob asks

Saher Hiba Khan

In the afternoon of 24th February, images of a Muslim youth shot in the stomach while being brought down through the stairs circulated online.

This was Shahid Alvi, a 23-year-old Auto-rickshaw driver who became one of the 39 dead victims in the anti-Muslim violence that swamped North-East Delhi.

Shahid had just married Shaziya 4 months ago, who in present is pregnant. Shahid’s family hails from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.

The shooting took place near Mohan nursing home on the Wazirabad road. Shahid was returning home with his brother after prayers on Monday when he got hit by a bullet in his stomach in Mustafabad at around 3.30 pm.

Shaziya as she makes an effort to speak told how Shahid would come for lunch and make her eat by saying, “Kha le Shazia, babu bhookha hai.” (Eat Shazia, the baby is hungry). The entire neighborhood was appalled and grieved for the family’s loss.

As told by his elder brother Irfan, the doctors are delaying the post-mortem by making unnecessary excuses. Irfan says that how because of this delay they are unable to perform the last rites. They dialed 100 but there was no response after which the police chased them away.

Shazia, on the other hand, hasn’t eaten anything since her husband’s death and complains that no one lets her see the body.

She keeps staring at the green bangles that Shahid bought her a day before his death and bursts into piercing cries every few moments while shouting, “What will I do now?, What will I do with this child?”.

A total of 39 people have died so far while more than 200 have been injured after anti-Muslim violence broke out in the northeast part of the National Capital on Monday.

The violence has created a situation of trepidation. Many Muslims living in the affected areas have fled their homes since the first day of the violence.

Saher Hiba Khan is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi and she studies English literature at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

Saher Hiba Khan
Saher Hiba Khan
Saher Hiba Khan is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi and she studies English literature at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

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