New Delhi: As Jahangirpuri remained on edge on Monday, a police team visiting homes in the area looking for suspects was attacked by family members of the man they were looking for, officials said, adding that the man they were looking for had allegedly shot at the police on Saturday.
While the police brushed this off as a "minor attack" saying they had detained one person for it and registered a case, normal life largely remained affected on Monday in the area.
A majority of shops kept their shutters down, there was heavy police presence in the area and only a few locals were occasionally seen on the roads. The entire area has been barricaded with police asking people to take another route.
28-year-old Sanwar Ali, who works as a scrap dealer, claimed that they are getting victimized as he is a daily-wage worker and earns Rs. 500-600 a day and is the only earning member of the entire family. Sanwar also blamed the local police and the security protocol imposed by them for not being able to move out and go to the workplace.
Another scrap dealer and a resident of the same locality Sheikh Nizamuddin (30) said that he is living in a rented shanty for Rs. 2000 per month, and for the past three days he is struggling to manage his bread and butter. While speaking to the Millennium Post, Nizamuddin said, "We are scared to go out of home because there is a fear of arrest, the police are taking action also against the innocent persons."
He further mentioned, "People have started calling us Bangladeshi and Rohingya now, it is a threat for us because people and some television news channels are questioning our nationality." Another resident, 43-year-old Sheikh Musa (43) claimed people of both the communities (Hindu and Muslim) are now scared to interact with each other. The incident started spreading hostility among neighbours even, who have been living together for years. 34-year-old Alam, another resident of C block Jahangirpuri said that there were two Hindu families living in his area for years but they are not talking to each other since the violence took place in the area. He also claimed, "The participants of Hanuman Jayanti procession were chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' and raising provocative slogans. They forcibly entered the mosque and started tying saffron flags on its premises. They were threatening us with swords. That's when stone-pelting began. Such an incident has never before happened in Jahangirpuri."
The increased police presence in the area will be maintained for a while with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday telling the Delhi Police to take strict action against all those involved in the violence that erupted on Saturday.