The 25-year-old, whose home was vandalised while he was guarding the mosque at Rowa Bazaar. He was armed with a stick. He saw that the members of the mob were holding knives. “I had to protect this mosque with my life. There was no question about th
Bricks and stones thrown into one of the bedrooms of a Muslim home in Rowa Bazaar. In addition to burning down shops, the Hindu mob from the VHP rally also attacked several Muslim homes. The 25-year-old who resided here, who asked not to be named, w
A side road leading to the Rowa Bazaar mosque. When the crowd in the VHP rally started moving towards the Mosque, four local VHP members blocked this road. To the right, the ruins of Amiruddin’s stationary shop are visible.
Munafuddin, a resident of Rowa Bazaar, in front of his home, which was attacked by a Hindu mob. On 26 October, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad held a massive rally in Panisagar, in North Tripura district, that passed through his locality. Munafuddin was g
Members of a VHP rally on 26 October vandalised the Chamtilla mosque in North Tripura district’s Panisagar division. The mob broke the fans, damaged windows and doors, and smashed a part of the announcement system. An eyewitness said that CRPF perso
The Hindu mob threw bricks through the windows of the Chamtilla mosque, which had intricate jali patterns in them. A star, which earlier formed part of pattern, lay broken among some rubble in the mosque compound.
A window at the Chamtilla mosque, destroyed during an attack by a Hindu mob.
Amiruddin ran a general store in Rowa Bazaar. The room adjacent to the shop served as his godown. He owned the building and was paying rent for the land on which it was built. “I would often take candy from my shop for my children, when I went home
Burnt candies at Nizamuddin’s shop in Rowa Bazaar
Muhammad Sunowar Ali of Rowa Bazaar, in Tripura, was standing by the local mosque as he watched the participants of a VHP rally set fire to his clothing and footwear shop, about a 100 meters away. “I was just simply watching my shop burn. I had put
Burnt footwear in Muhammad Sunowar Ali’s shop in Rowa Bazaar
Nizamuddin owned a stationary and candy shop in Rowa Bazaar, which stands destroyed behind him. He was only able to salvage one coloring book, which too was severely burnt around the edges.
A printer at the shop of a Rowa Bazaar resident, Amir Hussain.
Mohammad Jaynaluddin owns a building in Rowa Bazaar, where 6 shops were burned. He estimates that he had lost anywhere between 10 to 15 lakh rupees in damages to the building. When we spoke, he had not received any compensation from the government y
Shabana Khan at her home in Dharmanagar. Khan, an advocate, was away on vacation when her home was vandalised during a VHP rally in her city, on 21 October. The house is built on waqf-board land in a Hindu neighborhood. There is a small mosque on th
Shabana Khan’s home, vandalised.
A damaged switchboard the advocate Shabana Khan’s home, in Dharmanagar.
A television set, with its screen missing, at Shabana Khan’s home.
A policeman guarding the CRPF mosque, also called the Panisagar Jame Masjid, in North Tripura. An eyewitness alleged that the mosque had been burned down on the intervening night between 21 and 22 October. We were unable to confirm the status of the
Bijit Rai, the Panisagar president of the VHP. He acknowledge the attacks at Rowa Bazaar and the Chamtilla mosque, but denied that any members of the VHP were responsible. He said that “miscreants with wrong intentions” had carried out the attack.
A BJP flag greeted motorists and pedestrians every 20 to 30 meters along every major road in Panisagar. Earlier considered a stronghold of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Tripura elected the BJP with a majority in 2018.
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