Photo: PTI
Tension continued to grip the narrow lanes of Old Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, hours after a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) anti-encroachment drive near the Faiz-e-Ilahi Mosque in the Turkman Gate area turned violent. Residents allegedly pelted stones, prompting police to use mild tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Locals said electricity to the area was cut around 11.30 pm on Tuesday, shortly before demolition work began after midnight. By Wednesday, several lanes had been sealed off, with heavy police presence restricting movement.
Amid the chaos, 30-year-old Sanbari Khatun and her husband Muhammad Shakeel were seen searching for their seven-year-old son, who went missing during the unrest. Police stopped the couple as they rushed through Haj Manzil lane, where they live. The family suspected the child had taken shelter inside a nearby butcher’s shop, where he often played, Indian Express reported.
After repeated appeals from the family, police opened the shop’s shutter and found the child hiding behind a chopping block along with a friend.
Shops across the locality remained closed on Wednesday as fear lingered among residents. With movement curtailed, many people stayed indoors, and several two-wheelers lay toppled in Haj Manzil lane, bearing signs of the earlier violence.
Atik Ahmed, whose family has lived in Turkman Gate for nearly 150 years, said the sudden shutdown disrupted daily life. He said relatives had to bring bread through alternative routes as local shops were inaccessible, adding that he was uncertain how long businesses would remain closed. Ahmed also said his handicrafts shop in a nearby area suffered losses due to the situation.
Shahzad Khan, a member of the Aman Committee that had coordinated with the administration and district police ahead of the drive, said the demolished dispensary had been constructed within the last five years, while the banquet hall that was also razed dated back around two decades. He added that elders in the area had told him that parts of a graveyard were earlier repurposed to accommodate growing numbers of worshippers at the mosque.
Khan further said that the mosque’s managing committee had appointed doctors at the now-demolished dispensary. A local woman, who requested anonymity, said the facility had provided basic medical services, including blood tests and certain diagnostic procedures.