Week after violence, displaced Shiv Vihar residents seek help to return home to assess damage

A week after they were forced to leave their homes in Shiv Vihar in northeast Delhi due to communal violence, many residents sheltered at safer places have sought help from police and other authorities to go back and check on their houses.

As unrest over the amended citizenship law hit parts of northeast Delhi last week, many families from Shiv Vihar, one of the worst-affected areas, fled to safer places with nothing but the clothes on them.

A large number of such families sheltering in Old Mustafabad now want to return to their houses to check for damages or loss, said Munna, a local volunteer in Old Mustafabad.

At a helpdesk set up by some lawyers, many people came to seek assistance to visit their residences in Shiv Vihar. A draft of an application to the deputy commissioner of police of northeast Delhi has been prepared by the lawyers in this connection.

"We left on February 24 when mobs started violence and arson in Shiv Vihar, leaving everything, including important documents and money behind. Now, we need to go back and check if everything is safe or not," a Shiv Vihar resident present at the helpdesk said.

Munna said dozens of families from gali numbers 19 and 20 near Shamshan Ghat in Shiv Vihar fled due to the violence and were sheltered by locals in Old Mustafabad.

"Some of them tried to go back and check on their houses but were stopped and turned back by police and paramilitary personnel. Many others are scared to go without protection. A written permission from authorities and police protection will help them a lot," he said.

Sultan Mirza, a local volunteer helping violence-hit people in Brijpuri, said a shelter home had been set up at Chaman Park for Shiv Vihar residents.

"Due to problems of logistics and sanitation, they were divided into small groups and put up at houses of locals. Many of them are worried about their houses and properties in Shiv Vihar," he said.

Efforts are being made to seek a permission from the authorities and help of the police to enable them to visit their houses safely and retrieve things of daily use that they left behind, Mirza added.