A home burned down by rioteers in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. (File photo).
His wife was gangraped in the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013. And, all that a long battle for justice has yielded since is a bitter realisation. "When no one is going to stand by you, you can't continue. Everyone prefers to sit at home and say - we are with you," he says.
Three years ago, in September 2013, four people were booked for the alleged gang rape. All four walked free last week, acquitted after key witnesses including the survivor's husband, turned hostile. He says there was no pressure on him to withdraw from the case but he is no longer interested in the case.
This was the second case in the riots to have ended in acquittal in just a week. On February 5, 10 other accused were set free by a local court in Muzaffarnagar due to lack of evidence. They were accused of murdering a woman and her 12-year-old nephew in September 2013.
A day after, following protests from local groups, the ruling Samajwadi Party dropped the lawyer representing the state, Sajid Rana.
60 km away from the city, a resettlement colony set up for the riot victims of 2013 is still incomplete. Many here had to buy land to build their new homes, paying a large chunk of the compensation they got from the government.
Despite financial constraints, some are still pursuing their cases but the delay is taking a toll. "It has been two and a half years, for how long can we fight on?" asks a gangrape survivor. Her was burned down in the riots. "Only we know what we went through to get our lives back in order. Big or small, our homes in the village were our refuge," says her husband. But, what hurts them the most is the four accused are out on bail.
Asif Rahi, a social worker in Muzaffarnagar, sums up what many riot victims feel,
"My question to the government is if everyone has been acquitted, then who killed the victims? Does it mean there were no murders, no rapes? And if not, then where are the culprits?"