New Delhi: At Mustafabad's Eid Gah where the government has set up a relief camp, women are huddled together while kids are running around. The whole scene is chaotic, as more people come pouring in the camp. The relief camp is mostly giving shelters to families whose house were burnt completely in Delhi riots.
Most of the families, however, belong to Shiv Vihar. Nasleem (name changed) is sitting in the camp set for women. She is a resident of Shiv Vihar and lives with three of her daughters. Even though Nasleem and her youngest daughter were injured when a mob attacked them, their house was not vandalised.
"They took away some stuff from our house, but overall everything is fine," she told.
As the camp is getting crowded and the civil groups want to rehabilitate the families back to their homes, many have refused to move. "It is unsafe, and they will hurt us. I don't want to come back," Nasleem said.
Fear and trauma have taken over the families, who despite facing difficulties in the camp, don't want to move back.
"It is getting difficult for us to help these families who are adamant to not move. We won't be able to start the rehabilitation process, unless and until they don't give us the consent," a civil group volunteer said.
The trauma faced by the families is very intense, especially those who are taking shelter at the relief camp.
"Many people have lost their loved ones, while many have lost their house. Here amidst the chaos they at least feel safe," said another volunteer.
However, not everyone wants to stay in the camp. Aasman, a resident of Shiv Vihar was hell-bent to leave the camp and go to her house. As she waited for her husband and take him with her she said, "How can we live in such a situation? I have my house keys, we will leave today itself," she said agitated, even though her husband tried to reason with her.
"It is not safe yet, for our children's sake, we cannot go back," he said.
Many people have no other choice but to stay at the camp as their houses were gutted in the fire. Parveena's home, for instance, was destroyed in the fire lit by a mob on February 25. She sat sobbing outside her house, trying to make sense of what has happened. The death toll in Delhi violence has risen to 53.
44 have died at GTB hospital, five at RML hospital, three at LNJP hospital and at Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital.