In an exceptionally heavy monsoon season, Reshma Prabhulkar, 30, was sleeping at an Anganwadi for almost a month when we met her in August. Her home was burnt to ashes in July by a violent communal mob that descended on a Muslim settlement, Musalmanwadi, in Gajapur village below the historic Vishalgad fort in Kolhapur.
She and her family, like many other victims of this violence, are yet to be provided any relief measures by the government.
Reshma, her mother Chandbibi and her sister-in-law were busy at their tiny home-based shop that sells cheap fashion accessories when a mob of right wing thugs descended from the fort into their village. They started vandalising everything and burnt down her home while hurling communal abuses at the family. The mob also destroyed everything in the settlement, from food grains to children’s toys and vehicles.
Like other Muslims, the women and children of the Prabhulkar family fled their home and escaped to a neighbouring jungle.
This story was originally published in behanbox.com. Read the full story here.