Mother and brothers killed in post-Babri riots,

“I had spent my childhood in that neighbourhood. My brothers and I had played with the same people; we called them bhai. But they didn’t think twice before wiping my entire family out,” Raeesa says.

“I now ensure I am not left alone among Hindus. My family prefers to stay in a Muslim mohalla. My kids have been told to befriend people only from our qaum,” says Raeesa.

Raeesa’s brothers Imtiaz (29),Yusuf (26),Ayub (20) and mother Khatija Bi were few among hundreds killed in the second round of riots in January 1993 that rocked Mumbai after the demolition.

“Just after the riots broke out,I had asked my mother to come and stay with me and my husband at Wadala. Ayub kept insisting that the neighbours would help us in crisis. But it was they who killed my family,” says Raeesa.

“At 11 am,a mob entered my house,beat Yusuf and slit his throat. My mother kept pleading. They chopped all her fingers and left her with the body. She later bled to death. My other brothers had managed to hide in a neighbour’s house,while Yusuf’s wife Anisa was hiding in the lane with her son Jubair,trying to stifle his cries.”

Anisa and son Jubair escaped alive. “One neighbour,our childhood friend Jaggu,had hidden Ayub in his house. The murderers managed to find him too,” says Raeesa. Ayub was dragged out of Jaggu’s house and burnt alive. Imtiaz was killed later that night.

“At least 10 people saw my family killed but stood without a word. Police wanted to close the case and the initial investigation claimed my family had gone missing. Police had seized my brother’s broken teeth and mothers fingers from the house. Blood was splattered all over the house,yet the police still called it a ‘missing persons’ case,” says Raeesa.

Raeesa now wants the incident forgotten. “No government will ever bring justice. I dread to think of a situation where these culprits will be jailed. I don’t want another riot to happen.”