New Delhi, March 2 (PTI): A week after the deadly communal violence hit parts of northeast Delhi, several shops reopened at Maujpur area, the epicentre of the riots from where the stone pelting began on February 23.
As one passes through the area, security personnel could be seen sitting outside several shops. From pharmacies to electronics shops, which were shut down due to the violence, were reopened.
While there are still some shops that are closed down and their shutters read, "NO CAA, NO NRC"
CCTV cameras of most of the shops were damaged and glasses broken.
Sachin Kumar Jain, who runs a furniture shop in the area since 1985, said he and four of his employees had locked themselves inside the shop for at least five hours when the violence broke out on Sunday.
"As soon as the violence broke out, we closed the shutters of the shop and stayed inside for at least five hours. We could hear stones being pelted but we were too scared to step out and object to anything," said Jain, a resident of Maujpur.
Taking advantage of the darkness, Jain and his employees escaped through another lane from the backside of their shop.
Jain, along with his wife and children, left the area for Gandhinagar to a relatives place.
A sanitary shop at Maujpur was just reopened on Sunday after the situation in the area seemed normal and under control.
Security personnel have been deployed outside many shops in the area. Many shopkeepers said the security forces in the area encouraged them to open shops.
"I opened my shop yesterday. On Sunday, around 4 pm, the situation turned violent with mob pelting stones. I immediately closed the shop and decided to rush back home," recalled Mukesh Gupta, a resident of Brahmanpuri.
Gupta said he has been running his shop since the last 20 years and has never witnessed such violence in the last two decades here.
Many shopkeepers said they have suffered huge losses in the last one week since the violence broke out and they hardly have customers coming.
Deepak Bansal, who owns a garments shop here since last 40 years, said they never have witnessed such violence.
"As soon as the news spread, we all decided to shut down the shop on Sunday evening. The shops right in front were completely damaged by stone pelters and now all you see there is a dog taking a shelter inside the shop," he said.
After the security forces motivated us, we decided to open our shops but there has been no business so far, he added.
Anil Jain, an electronics shop owner said, "Around 4.30 pm, when the stone pelting started, we closed our shops and rushed to my house upstairs. Stones were being pelted left and right and we did not come out of our houses for days."
Nearly 1,300 people have been arrested or detained so far in connection with last week's communal violence in northeast Delhi where 98 per cent of the students appeared for board exams in the affected areas on Monday amid tight security.
Authorities maintained that the situation remained calm in the area with no fresh violence for past five days, even as police arrested 40 people across the national capital for allegedly spreading false rumours of violence that had triggered panic in the city on Sunday night.
Police have been conducting flag marches and holding meetings with locals in Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Chand Bagh, Shiv Vihar, Bhajanpura, Yamuna Vihar and Mustafabad which witnessed a deadly communal violence over the ameded citizenshiip law last week.
"The Delhi Police has registered 369 FIRs and arrested or detained 1,284 persons in connection with the northeast Delhi violence," an official said.
The police, however, did not reveal any information about those held, sparking demand by political parties and activists that they make public details of these people as per law.
On Monday, around 98 per cent attendance was recorded in the board exams held in violence-hit areas, said the CBSE which had earlier postponed class 10 and 12 exams in northeast Delhi and parts of east Delhi till February 29 in the wake of the riots.
According to an official, out of 2,888 students, 2,837 appeared for the physics and music papers.
Like Priya, a Class XII student who is a resident of Maujpur, many students said their preparations were affected due to the violence.
"I had prepared for the exam but I didn't get sufficient time for revision due to the riot situation. I could not sleep or focus because there was so much fear in the locality," she said after her Physics exam.
Another student, Mohammad Aahil, said, "We had to leave our home in Karawal Nagar for Ghaziabad after the situation there turned tense. I didn't have my books and somehow studied using internet."
The schools are closed in the area till March 7.
The Board had on Sunday said any further delay may hamper chances of students in securing admission to professional courses like medical and engineering, though it is ready to conduct fresh exams for students who are not able to appear.
Authorities maintained that the death toll remained at 42 in the communal clashes, even as five bodies were fished out from drains in northeast Delhi on Sunday and kept at RML Hospital.