This is what we saw: the road parallel to the drain is littered with bricks and stones used for rioting. Multiple bridges across the drain connect the two neighbourhoods. All but one manned by personnel of Central Reserve Police are blocked by residents of Shiv Vihar 
Shops along the road parallel to the drain in Chamanpark were burnt to char. A weighbridge and a paint shop were still smouldering when we arrived today.
As we began speaking to locals, a man bleeding on the head came running from Shiv Vihar. We heard slogans of Jai Shri Ram from behind him.
The Central Reserve Police personnels blocking the approach to Shiv Vihar escorted him to the Chamanpark side. Locals we were speaking to ran into a scramble, calling the Delhi Police and rushing to aid the injured person.
The person was put in an auto with an escort and sent to a hospital.
As things calmed down, we were told this was the sixth such case since the morning today. Muslims were targeted by mobs when they returned to Shiv Vihar to inspect their properties.
As things calmed down, we were told this was the sixth such case since the morning today. Muslims were targeted by mobs when they returned to Shiv Vihar to inspect their properties.
There is panic, fear and dispair in Chamanpark. People in the neighbourhood are on the edge. Residents of Chamanpark haven’t slept since Monday.
6,000 Muslims from Shiv Vihar have sought safety in Chamanpark since Monday, we were told.
Trouble in the area began Monday, 24 February, hours after mobs attacked protest sites in other parts of north east Delhi.
Locals claim, a mob chanting Jai Shree Ram came from Shiv Vihar Monday afternoon, looted and set on fire shops belonging to Muslims in Chamanpark on the road parallel to drain
The target was Aqsha mosque in Chamanpark, which the locals protected. Shops around it were attacked.
The locals we spoke to were quick to appreciate Hindus in Chamanpark who stood by and supported Muslims under attack. They blame local BJP-RSS members in Shiv Vihar and outsiders for the mayhem.
Bricks and stones were rained on Chamanpark on Monday afternoon and continued for nearly 13hrs straight, locals said. Police responded Monday night by firing tear gas in Chamanpark.
Monday night, Muslims in Shiv Vihar began being targeted. Their shops, homes and mosques were torched.
Many Muslims from Shiv Vihar were rescued in batches by the Delhi Police and brought to Chamanpark that night.
Those that stayed back were attacked on Tuesday. They were rescued by multiple team of Delhi Police and residents of Chamanpark during the day.
We met some residents of Shiv Vihar who sought refuge in Chamanpark. They’re currently in multiple camps across Chamanpark. All of them appreciated their Hindu neighbors who kept them safe and helped escape to Chamanpark.
We were shown videos of Muslim residents of Shiv Vihar attacked with acid. We were also told that Muslim women of Shiv Vihar were sexually harassed by rioters.
The rescue camp we went to was mostly full of women and children who arrived on Monday and Tuesday nights. The men were out on the streets.
The women at the camp were all in tears. Their own neighbours are a threat to their life, their life’s savings, their belongings are beyond their reach today.
The women recalled gas cylinder blasts in their neighbourhood and how it was their own neighbours who attacked them. There is a complete breakdown of trust between the two communities. They fear for their lives and safety.
People who were born have become grandparents in Shiv Vihar are now not welcome there anymore.
Their homes were torched. Those that stayed back, were attacked. Women recalled waves of violence that they experienced since Monday night.
There was a differently abled man among the women. The 50-year-old has eyes full of tears. He was sobbing as he recalled how he ran from Shiv Vihar to save his life. Women around him kept speaking of how their homes were torched, cylinder explosions and how they were forced
...to say Jai Shree Ram. He was worried for his children who were in a different camp. He arrived at the camp on Monday night with just a shirt on his back, no money in his pockets and his family.
He drives an e-rickshaw for a living, has no savings, no bank account and lives in a rented house. His belongings back home in Shiv Vihar.
A 15-year-old resident of Shiv Vihar, he is in ruins today. He is worried for the safety of his livelihood, his e-rickshaw, which he left behind. He asked me how he’ll feed his family anymore.
He was grateful to his Hindu landlord, who tipped him of rioters and helped him get to Chamanpark safely.
As we spoke, we were asked to return to main road where another man with a head injury had just arrived from Shiv Vihar. By the time we arrived, the Central Reserve Police had put him in a police vehicle. He said his younger brother was still stuck in Shiv Vihar.
As the police and the locals debated whether to go into Shiv Vihar to rescue the injured man’s brother, an armed contingent of Central Reserve Police and Delhi Police arrived at the scene
They decided to walk into Shiv Vihar. We followed.
As we walked into Shiv Vihar, a Central Reserve Police personnel said, ‘Srinagar se battar situation hai (this is worse than Srinagar).’
As we walked in, we caught a glimpse of the road parallel to the drain separating Shiv Vihar and Chamanpur. There was a group of men on the street with a BJP flag. The contingent of Central Reserve Police and the Delhi Police, ignored the mob and took a different route.
Those that went towards the mob were called back.
We followed the armed contingent.
As we walked behind the armed contingent, we saw a mosque that was burnt.
As we walked further into Shiv Vihar, we saw individual homes and establishments gutted in a line of otherwise untouched houses and shops. The arson was targeted.
Unlike in Chamanpark were people are terrorised and women indoors, shops are shut, life seemed normal in Shiv Vihar. Women were on the streets, at shops, sitting outside their homes. Children were playing on the streets.
We walked past a marriage reception. Senior officials of the Delhi Police and Central Reserve Police who led the contingent stopped to ask about the marriage. A senior official called and asked us to write about the marriage.
“See everything is not upside down here,” he said. “Please write about this if you want”
Barely 100m from the reception, a shop was vandalised and burnt.
There was a woman sitting in the house next to the vandalised shop. I asked what happened, she said men in helmets came in Monday night and torched the shop, which belonged to a Muslim.
“My kids were crying hiding under the bed. I kept pleading that I’m a Punjabi. I’m a Hindu. Don’t hurt us,’ she said.
By the time we wrapped up speaking to the bride’s father who was organising the wedding reception next door and people around the vandalised shops, we lost the armed contingent.
People were on the streets, including vegetable vendors, we asked them and traced the route of the contingent.
That led us to a crossroad, ahead of us everything was burnt down. We asked men standing at the crossroad what happened.
They said the lane is a Muslim neighbourhood. Shops of were burnt down. By who? Outsiders on Tuesday, the men said. The mob was stopped by locals and not allowed to enter the Hindu neighbourhood. As we walked into the lane, it smelt of smoke. The place was still smouldering.
As we entered into another Hindu neighbourhood, we saw an old man. We asked him for directions. He asked us where we were from. We identified as journalists.
He said there’s a Hindu-Muslim riot. ‘Muslims are demanding citizenship. That has turned into a fight.’ How did Muslims asking for citizenship turn into a riot, I asked. ‘Just. It turned into a fight.
You and I can get into fight. Hindus and Muslims have never gotten along,’ he laughed and said.
