Delhi Violence

At least 27 people have lost their lives while over 200 people have been injured in the deadliest violence in the national capital in decades after clashes between pro and anti-CAA protesters turned violent in North-East Delhi since last Sunday, officials said on Wednesday.

Hindu mobs appear to have targeted Muslims primarily — not people protesting the citizenship law. Mobs have stopped people and demanded to know their religion. “At least one photojournalist said he was asked to remove his pants to prove his religious identity,” the BBC adds. (Circumcision is common among male adherents of Islam.)

Muslims have complained that police are standing by while their homes and businesses are attacked. Among those killed in the past three days was Mohammed Furkan, a father of two. His brother, Mohammed Imran, told local TV that Furkan had gone out in search of a grocery store that was open. His children were hungry, and their local market was closed because of the riots.

Some Muslim residents were seen leaving the Mustafabad quarter on Wednesday with bundles of their belongings, fearing continued violence.

On Tuesday, a mob of Hindu men climbed atop a mosque, broke down its doors and flew an orange Hindu flag from the minaret. “I do not even know what to say,” a local Muslim man who did not want to give his name told The Guardian. He said he watched as the mob destroyed the mosque, then looted and burned two Muslim houses next door.