By Nikita Jain
“I am Naeem’s mother. He was my son,” Idreesa said with tears in her eyes.
Thirty-five-year-old Naeem, a resident of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, was shot dead when a bullet hit him in the chest.
On November 24, the historically significant town of Sambhal witnessed intense violence when an ASI team arrived to survey the Shahi Jama Masjid, accompanied by a Jai Shri Ram-chanting Hindutva mob.
The 16th-century Shahi Jama Masjid became a topic of controversy after a petition claimed a temple had been demolished to build the mosque.
As local people gathered outside the mosque and tensions escalated, the police resorted to brute force and opened fire on the protesters. Bullets struck six young men, killing them.
Naeem was one of them. Running a tailor shop, he was the eldest in his family. Almost three weeks after the incident, Maktoob journalists revisited the homes of the families grappling with the loss of their loved ones.
Idreesa sat in her small house near the Shahi Jama Masjid. Around her, Naeem’s children were curious. “He has four children. Now who is going to take care of them?” she asked.
In moments between the conversation, the grieving mother clutched her chest as if in pain, with tears pooling in her eyes. “My son is gone,” she said.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.