‘I’m Scared to Tell You I Saved a Muslim’: Hindu Man Who Rescued His Friend in Delhi Riots
.Late at night on February 24, 2020, Naushad Akhtar, along with his neighbours watched a carnage unfold from their terraces. Akhtar claims that night he saw shops with Muslim names being burnt in the Mandi Gali in Mustafabad. The next morning, they woke up to realise bigger horrors were in store, with even homes being heavily vandalised.
When this mob arrived near Gadha Chowk, Akhtar says, “We told our Hindu neighbours, acquaintances that we can tolerate the mobs looting our houses but please ask them to not target our mosques.” Akhtar, who went to hide in the Tayyaba Masjid nearby, says that even when the masjid was being attacked and burnt, he had reached out to his Hindu friends in the area to get rid of the rioters.
The next day on February 26, Akhtar explains how after he had escaped the torching of Tayyaba Masjid, and rioters broke into his house, which also ran a two-room Madrasa, his Hindu neighbour Sunil had called him to ask a question. Sunil asked Akhtar whether he could write “Jai Shree Ram” on the main door of Akhtar’s house to save it from rioters. Without a second thought, Akhtar agreed….
