Muzaffarnagar:
A seven-year-old girl lies on a hospital bed in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. Her head is wrapped in bandages; her clothes, a white and purple salwar-kameez are stained with blood.
Next to her, also injured, is her brother, just over a year old.
They were injured in the Shahpur area of the district, one of the areas lashed by seething communal tension that has left 26 people dead and nearly 40 injured. Doctors say it's not clear if the children's parents are alive.
"Both the children were hit with blunt objects," said Dr AK Srivastav.
The children were brought to hospital last night by the police. The girl is traumatised and can barely recount what she witnessed, say doctors. She refers to a woman being treated at the same hospital as "aunt." The woman is in a critical condition.