In Modi’s India, families of Muslims killed by Hindu mobs lose hope for justice

More than 45 people, mostly Muslim, were killed when sectarian riots broke out in northeast Delhi

Hundreds of Muslim families who have fled and lost their relatives say the Modi government is to blame for a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric in India

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Relatives and neighbours grieve over the loss of loved ones in New Delhi on February 27, 2020. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00am, 4 Mar 2020Updated: 9:03am, 4 Mar 2020

On February 24, when a mob of Hindu men armed with sticks and swords began rampaging through Shiv Vihar, a neighbourhood northeast of the Indian capital, Naziya frantically called all the Delhi police helpline numbers she could find on the internet.

“For the next 48 hours, there was no police officer in sight. They allowed the rioters to wreak mayhem upon us,” said Naziya, 45, who only wanted to be identified by her first name. “Even the mobs were shouting and taunting us by saying, ‘the police are with us’.”

The riots, which erupted on the day US President Donald Trump arrived in India for a state visit, lasted three days, killing more than 45 people, mostly Muslim, and injuring at least 150 others. The mobs torched buildings worth millions, and hundreds of residents were displaced. Over 1,000 people have been arrested over the violence.

The bloodshed came amid rising tensions between Muslims and Hindus in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government last year passed a controversial law that fast-tracks Indian nationality for certain religious groups but excludes Muslims.

Detractors say the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is discriminatory and comes on top of other measures – including the axing of Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy – that have sparked fears about the future of India’s 200 million Muslims, who form about 15 per cent of the population.