The violence in Atali began Monday evening, the flashpoint of a five-year dispute over the construction of a mosque.
It’s almost midnight but sleep doesn’t come easy to 150 Muslims at the Ballabhgarh City police station. Their homes burnt, their neighbours now foes, they have nowhere to go. The police station is the only shelter for these residents of Atali, a village in Ballabhgarh roiled by communal violence.
The violence in Atali began Monday evening, the flashpoint of a five-year dispute over the construction of a mosque. Adjacent to a temple, the mosque was torched and the Muslims of the village fled. They have since been camping at the police station.