A year after Delhi Riots: Salim wants to return

This February marks one year since the racist attack happened in the capital. This is the third part of Madhyamam investigation regarding the current status of the riot victims.

Salim and his family have no time to waste. After consigning five people to jail for looting two houses and their company after murdering their elder brother, the police are now in an attempt to get the rest punished.

Living in his friend's rented house in Mustafabhad, his mind is still on that broken house. When asked what the plan was, he replied that they would go back to Shiv Vihar from where they had been evicted. The decision was to complete the construction along with the ongoing case. He wanted to retaliate by living amidst those who drove them away.

It was under intense pressure that Salim testified against the accused, which included the two children of a policeman, and took them to jail. Salim expresses gratitude to his neighbour Abhishek for rescuing his life so he could fight for justice. Salim remembered that he and his family would not be on earth today if Abhishek's family had not saved their lives by hiding them on their house's third floor. If they hadn't been donning the tilak, they too would have turned to ashes like their sibling.

As hundreds of people surrounded the house from all three sides, they watched their elder brother folding his hands, begging for his life, through the sun-filmed glass in Abhishek's house. When the elder brother was shot, Harikant, an acquaintance, started beating him with a stick. After that, petrol bombs and cylinders were thrown at their home and then his elder brother was thrown alive into it.

"Keep firing; the government is with us," Nandakishore Gujjar, a BJP leader from Lony, encouraged the rioters. The mob then broke into the house and stole all the household items, including jewellery, fridge and cupboards, preserved for his two daughters' wedding. Two cars and a motorcycle were also burnt. All the shelves prepared for sale in the company were looted. Later, when Raju, who looked after the company was asked where the burning debris of the cupboard company was, he replied that there was no such company here and that he need not come there again in search for it. However, Salim is determined to rebuild the house where he has lived for 35 years.