The State is terrorising the residents of Khori Gaon village in Faridabad district in Haryana not only by demolishing their homes, but making sure to harass them in everyway possible till they have destroyed their lives completely.
Residents who tried to save their belongings and families were arrested and charged with false cases, along with arbitrary arrests, the police can be seen resting and relaxing inside homes they will soon be demolishing, while abusing their power to make the family stand outside in heat and rain, outside their own home. Women are getting beaten up and arrested by male officers if they resist the demolition of their homes.
Meanwhile hardly any news comes out of Khori Gaon as journalists are being harassed for doing their job. Either they are not being allowed to enter, and if they do somehow, they are surrounded by police, threatened that if they record anything their phone/cameras will be broken, and then made to delete their footage.
A resident said, “”We appeal to the police to just plant a bomb and end everything right now. In the last fifteen years, our lives have been miserable, we lived each day hoping tomorrow will be better, spent years living with that hope, but now they have taken the very little we had. How are we supposed to survive when there is no roof above us? A pandemic is going on and now the rains have started. We have spent the last two nights sleeping in water, shivering, while they enjoy their sleep in their comfortable beds.”
“Modi, that criminal, has ruined our lives. It feels like we never really got independence, as the current government is also using the same divide and rule. We Hindus and Muslims live in harmony. Tomorrow they have their festival, Eid Al-Adha, we used to always celebrate all festivals together. But now, everything is destroyed. We don’t expect much of BJP, but what is the opposition doing? Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi and others? Why is there an opposition at all when nobody can stand up for us?”
The residents also shared how the new accomodation arranged by the government is in a terrible condition. They mentioned how it is worse than what they were already subjected to, in Khori Gaon.
Vibhu Grover is an independent photojournalist based in Delhi.
