‘My son went out and didn’t return’: Unease in Old Delhi after demolition near mosque triggers violence

At 3 pm on Wednesday, Sanbari Khatun (30), along with her husband Muhammad Shakeel (42), was seen holding their younger son and running frantically along the Haj Manzil lane when she was stopped by police personnel. She was looking for her seven-year-old son, who had gone missing amid the chaos.

Security personnel on Thursday stand guard near the Syed Faiz-E-Ilahi mosque after the demolition of alleged encroachments on the adjoining plot (PTI).

“My elder son has not been home since Tuesday night. He went out at four in the evening on Tuesday and that was the last time I saw him,” she said, showing her missing son’s picture.

The family, who live in one of the houses in the Haj Manzil lane, believed that their son must have been hiding in a nearby butcher’s shop as he often used to come there to play.

After several requests from Shakeel’s family, police opened the shutter of the meat shop to find the child, along with his friend, hiding behind the chopping block.

ALSO READ | Families urge wrongful arrests in Delhi demolition violence case

In the wake of prevailing tensions in the area, several shops remained shut on Wednesday.

While movement was restricted, forcing people to stay indoors, nearly a dozen two-wheelers lay on the ground in Haj Manzil lane — an aftermath of the violence which broke out earlier in the day.

Atik Ahmed, a third-generation member of a family who have called Turkman Gate their home for 150 years, said that the sudden shutdown caused problems in arranging breakfast for his children.

“My relative came through other lanes and gave packets of bread. We don’t know how long the shops will be shut,” he said. Ahmed said that his small handicraft shop, located in the adjacent area, also suffered loss of business due to the shutdown.

Ahmed, a regular at the Faiz-e-Ilahi Mosque, recalled how the area around it had changed over the years. “There used to be trees surrounding the mosque where we used to play cricket, and a graveyard which wasn’t actively used even when we were children,” he said.

ALSO READ | 30-35 people threw stones, snatched police loud hailer: FIR on violence over demolition drive near Delhi masjid

Shahzad Khan, a member of the Aman Committee with whom the administration, including district police, had held several coordination meetings in order to prevent any untoward incident before the anti-encroachment drive took place, said the dispensary, which has now been demolished, came up in the last five years. Another demolished structure, the banquet hall, was built 20 years ago, Khan added.

“Our elders told us that when the number of people who came to pray at the mosque increased, the graveyard became dormant and was attached to the mosque to accommodate more people,” he said.

Khan added that the doctors at the now-demolished dispensary were hired by the managing committee of the mosque. A woman who did not wish to be named said that the dispensary offered several medical facilities such as blood tests, including conducting certain diagnostic tests. “I visited the dispensary last month to get an X-Ray of my right ankle done, which cost me around Rs 350,” she added.