Eight people received gun shot injuries during the Trilokpuri riots.
Trilokpuri is a resettlement colony that was set up in the mid-seventies for evicted slum dwellers. It has tiny 22 square yard plots and 36 blocks. In one square kilometre radius, there are as many as 1.5 lakh residents jostling for space. A majority are Dalits and Muslims, migrants from UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and other parts of the country. Our first stop is at a Tamil Hindu block, block 28, where two teenagers and friends Arjun and Ajit live.Their lives are now inextricably woven with the story of the events that overtook Trilokpuri three months ago.
Arjun, a 16 year old class nine student, was hit by a bullet in the back of his head on October 25, two days after the violence broke out nearly a kilometre away in block 20 near a Mata ki Chowki. The bullet came out of his cheek. Arjun's father is a driver and his mother a housewife.
Ajit was shot in the stomach. He is 17 and in class 10. Ajit's father is a car cleaner and his mother a domestic help, both work in middle class colonies in neighbouring Trilokpuri.
Ajit recalls that the violent clashes had erupted suddenly near his home." There was no trouble this side of Trilokpuri. For the last two days, the clashes had been taking place elsewhere. Arjun and I were returning from tuition classes when the stone pelting began. Arjun stopped to watch, but I kept walking. When I heard him scream, I stopped and that's when I was hit by a bullet. I continued running towards my house as the police were following me. I managed to reach the house of someone I knew."
Arjun says he fell unconscious as the bullet hit his head, "I don't remember anything. I have headaches. I am unable to go to school."
Ajit says he suffers from pain and swelling. His family had to pay nearly Rs 15,000 for his treatment, an amount they can ill afford.
Ajit said, "We just want to be compensated for the expenses of our treatment."
Arjun's mother, R Malar, said her son was admitted to a private hospital, Max. She said," My son was shot in the head and fell unconscious. Despite that the police hit him on the head with lathis and then left him on the street in that condition. When we took him to a local hospital, they said they were not hopeful of his recovery. His father took him to Max Hospital. It took him two weeks to recover consciousness. The first week his condition was very serious and doctors told us he may not live. But everybody prayed for his recovery and he regained consciousness."
The hospital bills were paid by the Government, but they have not been compensated for the huge out-of-pocket expenses on medicines and related medical supplies.
They say the coming elections in Delhi offer no hope that their concerns will be addressed. Malar said," Political parties come to us every year and make promises that are never fulfilled. When the riots were taking place, why were these politicians missing? We just want these riots to stop and everyone to live together peacefully".
Ajit's aunt, Meena, said,"No one has bothered to check on how the children are doing? Or on how we are coping post the riots? Now that the elections are here, they will come. The common man is trapped. The fight started in one corner of Trilokpuri but spread through the entire colony. These riots should not happen again. People should live together peacefully like before."
Eight people received gun shot injuries during the Trilokpuri riots. Like Ajit and Arjun, there's 21 year old Ashish, of block 18, who was shot in the leg. The doctors were unable to save his leg which was amputated at the knee. His father is a mason who came from Rajasthan 15 years ago. Ashish is one of five children, and had recently taken up a small job with a cable operator.
Ashish said,"The bullet came from the opposite side so I could not tell who fired it. Some people took me to GTB hospital where they said they could do nothing to help me. Then we went to Irwin or LNJP Hospital. I was given the wrong treatment there. They made a deep cut in my leg.The wound was kept open for nearly 10 days and cleaned everyday. I was in hospital for nearly 45 days. No politician came to visit me."
The family had to spend around Rs 60,000 during his treatment.
Apart from government compensation, the family wants Ashish to get a proper artificial leg, and a job with the Government.
His aunt, Shanti Devi, said,"He is so young. He should lead a normal life, support himself and not be a burden on his siblings."
The pain of neglect by the administration finds resonance in the Muslim dominated blocks. In block 27, the wounds are yet to heal. Take the case of two brothers who were beaten up badly by the police for being alleged rioters.
After being jailed for 22 days, they were released.
Shakeel and Vakil, who are tailors, run a shop below their homes. When the trouble started they closed their shop and went home. Suddenly a number of policemen barged in after breaking the locks.
"They thrashed my husband and brother-in-law. They pulled down curtains, vandalized our house. They took them to Tihar jail, but did not torture them much there. But they beat them up so much on that day that they are unable to work even now. We want these unnecessary fights between two communities to never take place again. We are all the same. What purpose did the riots serve? No political party cares to listen to us. All we want is that people should not lose sight of basic humanity. And in case these incidents recur, political parties should stand up for the cause of the victims and take necessary action," says Shakil's wife.
Shakil says he wants that the cases lodged against innocent people like me should be closed. "We are scared. We live in fear."
At the block 27 market, Israr Khan carries a folder with photographs of the rioters and of the police action in Trilokpuri. He is a DESU employee turned garment shop owner. His shop called A to Z emporium in Block 27 was gutted during the riots. He has managed to re-build it. Though the work is not complete, the shop has re-opened.
Israr Khan said, "My shop was burnt down around 4 am and I suffered losses worth Rs 1.5 crore. All the shop owners in this area helped me rebuild my shop by giving me loans."
He says he filed complaints with the LG, the SP and the DCP, but it was ignored by everyone.
"The guilty should be punished," said Israr," so that such incidents do not take place in the future. Whoever the guilty may be, Hindu or Muslim. Even if my son is involved in such activity, he should be punished. I am a shopkeeper, what do I have to do with these fights? "
He tells us that since 1947, all Muslims have been in favor of the Congress party. But now they want to give Arvind Kejriwal a chance in the hope that he will do something for the common man.
While some grapple with their sense of loss and injustice. The instability created by the communal violence hurt everyone particularly the poorest....the daily wage earner, the factory worker who have to go out and earn everyday. Many lost their jobs. Communal polarization has left scars that are visible and not so visible.
Saurav Sharma, founder member of the voluntary organization JOSH, said," When the 1984 riots took place in Trilokpuri, the people felt that such incidents would not occur again. These riots took us by surprise. We have been working with both Hindu and Muslim communities for nearly eight years, and we had not come across any communal feelings. The people of Trilokpuri had forgotten that riots could take place in their area. Once such an incident takes place, people start thinking that such things can happen again. It has changed the minds of young people. A majority of those who were involved and who got hurt were the youth. The youth started identifying with their community. When we spoke to them after the riots, we found hidden fractures that we were not aware of earlier. The riots had brought it out into the open."
So why did a drunken brawl near the Mata Ki Chowki turn into a full scale riot between the Hindus and the Muslims? Many observers believe it was politically motivated, that old fault lines were used to divide a working class population so that it could be mobilized into votes. In the 2013 Delhi assembly elections, the Aam Admi Party had won from the Trilokpuri constituency. The communal clashes may change the political equations in the constituency this time.
Senior police officials, however, continue to maintain that the riots were spontaneous. They say the social dynamics of a crowded Trilokpuri played a role. Everything caught fire, whether aggressor or victim. With over 80 policemen injured in the violence, even the police suffered.
"When a riot happens, it escalates very fast almost at an exponential rate and controlling it is always a reverse exponential rate, a very slow rate. There are a lot of apprehensions, rumours, they play their own role. A social event of this magnitude has its own momentum and it takes its own toll in terms of injuries, in terms of allegations , in terms of relief measures, in terms of the time it takes to heal. It's a long drawn process after that," says Sanjay Beniwal, Joint Commissioner of Police, East District,"
The police defend themselves against charges of playing a partisan role or of using excessive force. They are aware that they continue to tread on thin ice as the fault lines will take time to heal. What is abundantly clear is that ordinary residents are looking for safety and peace. Minor conflicts are now being immediately reported to the police.
According to Mr Beniwal,"The people don't want it to escalate. We all have suffered together and we all have to walk the talk together. There is no way out in this. We have to build our bridges gradually. There is a lot of mistrust because of perceived or real apprehensions, we can only smooth them out by a balanced and response to it."
On the ground, a balanced response by the administration should translate into the setting up of an inquiry to identify and punish the guilty. A transparent process to clear the air of half truths and falsehoods vitiating the relationship between the communities, to bring relief and redressal to victims.