At least in hundreds and thousands, Muslim families huddled inside their homes on February 25 in various colonies of northeast Delhi amidst widespread violence. One such victim was Mohd. Anees. Mohd Anees and his family hoped and prayed, that the nameplate outside the two-storey house would not bring rioters inside their house premises.
The mob was unstoppable it was vandalizing and burning down any house it could find in Khas Khajuri Gali on the afternoon of February 25.
The nameplate outside the house mentioning Mohd Anees of the BSF did not seem enough to the rioters and hence intense violence was unleashed.
First, the rioters targeted cars that stood outside the house and put them on fire. For the next several minutes, the mob pelted stones at the house.
They shouted slogans of “idhar aa Pakistani, tujhe naagarikta dete hai (Come here Pakistani, we’ll give you citizenship)” as they then threw a gas cylinder in the house to set it on fire.
It needs to be mentioned that Anees had spent three years in Jammu and Kashmir guarding the border after joining the BSF in 2013 was lost on them.
According to News 18, Along with Anees, his father Mohd Munis, 55, uncle Mohd Ahmed, 59, and 18-year-old cousin Neha Parveen were in the house. Sensing what was about to go down next, they all escaped from the house and were helped by paramilitary troops.
Neha Parveen had plans of getting married in April and Anees himself had plans of getting married the following month. “All the things we collected all our life, jewellery – two gold necklaces, silver jewellery, it is all gone, the news 18 report stated.”
Only some charred remains of the house now stand where the house was till three days ago.
In the two lanes of Khajuri Khas near Anees’s house, 35 houses were set on fire.
Only one house belonging to a Muslim family was spared.
The loss suffered by the BSF soldier’s family was perhaps greater as they had kept all their life’s savings inside: two weddings in the family were to take place in the next three months.
