RIOTAFTERRIOT IN INDIA HAS SHOWN HOW political incitement can ferment chaos and police complicity can sound the death knell for the targeted community. The anti-Muslim violence in Delhi carried out over three days and nights was no exception. But here the similarity ends.
In a departure from past instances of communal violence, where occasionally the police assisted, turned a blind eye to or covered up a crime, here they participated fully with the Hindu mobs running amok in Muslim localities of North East Delhi. Several videos and eyewitness accounts, including those of journalists, exposed the role of the Delhi Police in the escalation of the violence.
They did not even pretend to control the arson and looting. In fact, they pelted stones, fired tear gas shells and threw hand grenades on Muslim homes while running with the Hindu mobs. An activist said that in one instance when a family was searching for their missing son, the police told them they had taken him to a hospital but refused to disclose which one. Later, the family reported that an eyewitness had told them that when the boy ran to the police for help, he was pushed back to the mob, which dragged him away. He has been missing since then.
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