By Clarion India
BHOPAL – Up until a few months back, 17-year-old Zeenat Qureshi was like any of the tens of millions of girls her age in India. She was poor and had to help her mother in their brick home in a village in Madya Pradesh and tend to the cattle. But she had a family, her things, and friends.
Zeenat died on August 9. She died of pneumonia, a doctor told her family. She got sick after getting drenched in the rain. It wasn’t like she wanted to get wet. She didn’t have any choice but to brave the downpour. Zeenat was among dozens of people living in the open in Bhainswahi village. All of them are Muslims, and the authorities bulldozed their homes.
Her father attended the funeral in handcuffs with policemen by his side. This is a story of how India’s government built homes for the poorest segment of society and then bulldozed them based on religion.
And it all started with the rumour of an injured cow.
In the early hours of June 15, dozens of armed police officers descended on Bhainswahi village in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, a large province smack in the middle of India.
Police officers, wielding guns and batons, cordoned off a part of the Muslim-dominated village and ordered everyone to come out of their houses.
This story was originally published in clarionindia.net. Read the full story here.
