Fear, silent migration: A year after anti-Muslim riots in Delhi

Muslim victims of last year’s violence say they have been forced to sell their properties due to lack of security.

New Delhi, India – Nisha Mewati and her family had been living peacefully in northeast Delhi’s Shiv Vihar area – a mixed-neighbourhood where Hindus and Muslims lived cheek by jowl – for more than a decade. But last February, their world changed. “And it changed suddenly,” said 22-year-old Nisha, sadness flickering in her eyes. On February 25, 2020, she was going about her daily chores in the morning when she heard shouts of “Jai Shri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram) – a Hindu chant that has lately become a rallying cry for murder – reverberating at some distance from her home.