The victims of the Delhi riots were ordinary people going about their ordinary lives. While some were killed on their way home from work, others lost their lives when they were out to buy milk or shop for a wedding. Many were targeted on their way back from the mosque, and some even attacked at home.

At the time of writing this report, the confirmed death toll in the Delhi riots is 53. We spoke to a few of the families of the deceased.

Zindagi itni sasti kab se hogayi?

A simple man of little wants, Zakir is fondly remembered by his neighbours and relatives at Mustafabad as a friendly man who never got into any trouble. Zakir, 27, is one of the many who lost their lives in the North-East Delhi violence. He left his house at 4 pm on February 25 to check up on his elder brother in Brijpuri. Within two hours, news of his death reached his home. He had been stabbed to death

“I was offering my prayers when a man came to our house and informed me that my son was in the hospital. I rushed to Meher hospital and saw his body lying there. He had been attacked by the mob and brought dead,” recalls Meena, Zakir’s mother fighting back the tears.

Survived by his wife, Muskaan and two daughters — Aisha, 7, and Afia, 3, Zakir was the sole breadwinner of the family.

“I have two daughters, and I don’t know what to tell them. It’s not just one day. It is an entire lifetime. I don’t know how I will raise them now,” Muskaan says, breaking down.

While Aisha realizes that her father is no more, Afia is too young to understand the loss. The day after her father passed away, Aisha cried out, “Abbu maar gaye mere. Allah ke pass chale gaye.” My father is dead. He has gone to Allah.

Aisha, who was close to her father, would eagerly wait for Zakir to return from office. “He would take time out to teach them. Sometimes they would be awake till 1 am, learning together. They would practice writing in English, multiple times, till they got it perfect. And now who will teach them?” laments Muskaan.

Muskaan takes out a photo of Zakir and for us to take a look. As they pass it along, they each take a look at him longingly as tears roll down their face. Aisha paused for a while, looking at her father’s photo and smiles.

Married for ten years now, Muskaan is struggling to imagine a life without her husband. “When our loved ones stay away from home even for a day, we keep checking up on them, calling them to ask if they have reached and eaten. And now he has gone to such a place that I can’t ask him anything.”

Zakir would always stress the need to educate her children, and Muskaan hopes to fulfil his wish. “I want my children to be educated, just like Zakir wanted them to be. Because if a person is educated, they will never be a part of such riots. I will try my best to provide for their education.”

Muskaan recalls a time she had asked Zakir about the reasons behind the protests on CAA and NRC. “While he was not well-aware, he wanted our children to be educated enough to understand our constitution.”

At the welding shop in Brijpuri where he worked, he would always greet everyone in the locality and never fought with anyone, adds a neighbour.

Tired of the tense situation, Muskaan feels that the riots are illogical. “Hindustan has a lot of love in the country. Everyone is supposed to be safe them in this secular state. We cannot understand why this is happening now in this country? When will this fight end? Zindagi intni sasti kab se hogayi?” Since when is life so cheap?

'Bring back my brother'

As more bodies come in, almost every lane in Mustafabad is mourning the loss of loved ones. On March 3, we were on our way to meet an injured woman, when we heard gut-wrenching cries from Gali No 6 of Old Mustafabad.