85-year-old woman burnt to death after mob sets house on fire in Northeast Delhi

New Delhi: On Tuesday, 25 February, Mohammed Saeed Salmani's four-storey house in Gamri Extension near Delhi’s Khajuri Khas was set on fire by an armed mob of around 100 people.

Although the rest of his family survived the arson, Salmani’s mother, 85-year-old Akbari, died on the third floor, according to a Scroll report. He was out buying milk at the time.

“When I came back, there were 100-150 people in front of our street. They broke through the gate, set fire to the first two floors. My children and wife ran but my mother had difficulty moving because of her age.”

The tailoring workshops on the first two floors, that were the backbone of the family’s garments business, were also reportedly torched. Salmani claims the mob robbed him of Rs 8 lakh and family jewellery.

“I have nothing left, I am zero,” he told Scroll.

More than 30 people have died in the communally-charged violence that erupted in northeast Delhi. Most of the injured hail from areas such as Mustafabad, Maujpur, Kardam Puri, and Kabir Nagar, which reeled under violence on Tuesday.

Gamri extension, where Salmani’s house is, has reportedly received negligible attention from the police and the media so far.

All Muslim residents of the area packed their belongings and sought refuge with relatives and friends in other parts of Delhi on Tuesday as threat of attacks grew, Scroll reported.

Another resident of the area said that a large mob later returned, chanting “Jai Shri Ram” and anti-Muslim slogans, and began attacking people and homes with stones and petrol bombs. “They also broke into our Masjid, vandalised everything inside and burnt our Quran,” he told the news publication.

Akbari’s body is at the GTB Hospital and her postmortem is underway, according to the report. Salmani told the publication that he will bury his mother in their village in Meerut district.

He also plans to file a first information report (FIR) against the unknown assailants.