Indian Express: ‘There is fear’: Muslim families flee village, take shelter in relief colony

On Monday, when The Indian Express visited the relief colony, loaded tempo rickshaws were bringing in residents of Randhikpur into the relief colony along with their luggages where they decided to stay until “a decision is made” regarding the release of the convicts.

Muslim families from Randhikpur arrive at the Rahimabad Relief Colony in Devgarh Baria. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

By Aditi Raja / Indian Express

A week after the Gujarat government released 11 convicts serving life sentence in the Bilkis Bano case, several Muslim families from Randhikpur (Singwad) have started leaving their homes and have taken shelter in Rahi-mabad Relief Colony of Devgarh Baria taluka in Dahod district, where Bilkis has been living since 2017.

Bilkis was gang-raped in Randhikpur during the communal violence that followed the Godhra train-burning incident in 2002. She was 21 years old then and five months pregnant. Seven members of her family were killed by rioters.

Sultana, 24, who arrived at the colony with her mother and sister on Sunday said, “There is fear among the community since last week… There have been no direct threats but the welcome they received and the sense of jubilation in the village… We grew anxious and left as we did not feel safe there. It was different when they came out on parole as we knew they were ultimately prisoners but now they have been released.”

This story was originally published in indianexpress.com . Read the full story here

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