The effects of the communal clashes in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone on Ram Navami, April 10, were felt even in a village several kilometres away.
In the Hindu-majority village of Kukdol, some 8 km from Khargone, the home 58-year-old Abdul Hamid and his family was descended upon on April 12 by a Hindutva mob, more than 60 strong, alleging that the family had been harbouring rioters.
Hamid, who moved to Kukdol from Khargone ten years ago after losing sight in both his eyes, recounted the incidents of that night to The Wire, wherein the members of his family were beaten with stones, threats of rape were made to his deaf and mute daughter, and his wife’s clothes were ripped from her body.
“Hamne baccho ko bola dua padh lo yeh aakhri waqt hai, ab ham nahi bachenge (I told my children, say your prayers. These are out last moments),” Hamid said.
Watch Hamid and his family detail the harrowing events of the night of April 12.
