By Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net,
Muzaffarpur: Communal violence broke out in Azizpur-Bahilwara village near Saraiya in Muzaffarpur district in north Bihar on January 18 that killed four persons and almost all the 56 Muslim (Pasmanda) households in the village were looted and burnt. The immediate spark of the communal tension was the murder of a Hindu (by caste Mallah, fishermen) boy named Bhartendu Sahni, 20, (reportedly in love with a girl from Pasmanda Muslim community, both belonging to the same village, and both studying in the same LS College of Muzaffarpur), who was missing since January 9.
TwoCircles.net’s Mudassir Rizwan visited the village to assess the ground realities.
The place in Azizpur village where the body of 20-year-old Bhartendu Sahni was found buried. He was allegedly murdered due to his reported love affair with a girl from a Muslim family.
Several things, including wooden cots, burnt right outside the mosque in Azizpur village.
Remains of the burnt insides of the mosque at the Azizpur-Bahilwara village. The rioters did not spare even the Holy Quraan.
This was where Akhtar Hussain, 60, was allegedly burnt down by the rioting mob right behind his house (seen in the photo). He was one of the four killed during the riots.
One of the houses burnt by the mob in Azizpur village.
Inside a burnt house in Azizpur village.
Kamrun Khatoon, an elderly woman, sitting and pondering outside her burnt house at Azizpur village.
Ruksana Khatoon of village Azizpur showing her burnt and looted house.
Burnt motorcycle and tractor in Azizpur village.
Remains of an exploded domestic gas cylinder at one of the houses in Azizpur village.
Saeeda Khatoon standing outside her burnt house in Azizpur village.
House of Wasi Ahmad in Azizpur village. It was his daughter that Bhartendu Sahni was reportedly in love with and was killed for it. Rioters also looted Ahmad’s house and tried to set it afire too.
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