A Report on the experience of children in the riot affected areas Bombay 1992-1993

1. A REPORT ON
THE EXPERIENCE
OF CHILDREN IN
THE RIOT AFFECTED AREAS
BOMBAY 1992-1993
IN AND ANAbYSIS
CENTRE FOR STUDY OF SOCIETY AND SECULARISM
Irene Cottage, 2nd Floor, 4th Road, Santacruz (East),
Bombay - 400 055.

2. A REPORT ON
THE EXPERIENCE
OF CHILDREN IN
THE RIOT AFFECTED AREAS
BOMBAY 1992-1993
INVESTIGAlTION AND ANALIYSIS
CENTRE FOR STUDY OF SOCIETY AND SECULARISM
Irene Cottage, 2nd Floor, 4th Road, Santacruz (East),
Bombay - 400 055.

3. Published by :
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Irene Cottage, 2nd Floor, 4th Road, Santacruz (East),
BOMBAY - 400 055.
A Report on the Experience of Children in
the Riot Effected Areas Bombay 1992 - 1993
C) 1994, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Printed at Anwar Printers
57-A, Zeenat Building, Flat No. 3,
L. J Road Mahim, Bombay - 400 016.
FOREWORD
The Bombay riots of December, 1992 and January, 1993,
following the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya shook the whole
country. It was great national tragedy indeed. The communal beasts
sought to destroy everything which is valuable in human heritage.
The scale of destruction, both of human lives as well as properties,
was so huge indeed that it defies all description. Many people lost
their near and dear ones besides their home and hearth. This
destruction and personal loss left deep scars on their psyche.
The children of tender age also suffered along with their elders.
Many children were orphaned at young age and many lost their
brothers and sisters also. In some case their mothers and sisters were
raped in their very presence. It must have deeply disturbed them
inwardly. They will carry this memory throguhout their lives. Perhaps
some of them would not be able to lead a normal life again. Those
who succeeded in repressing their sorrow for the present may manifest
itself through nervous diseases in their mature life.
On the completion of one year after the riots The Centre for
Study of Society and Secularism thought it fit to carry out a survey
of some riot affected children from both the communities. They were
interviewed by our activists including some academics to record their
highly sensitive impressions one year after the riots. Their plight,
as will be seen from their stories and personal sufferings which they
still undergo, is, to say the least, pathetic. We are presenting here
in this booklet, their recorded statements so that the readers may
realise the gravity of their sufferings. All of us should try to see
that such sufferings are not inflicted on these innocent, sensitive
children again.
I am extremely thankful, on behalf of the Centre, To Ms.
Lalitha Sudhakar, Ms. Renu Mittal, Ms. Nimmi, Ms. Theresa Serrao,
for conducting the survey in very difficult conditions. It was their
sincere commitment and hard work that saw this project through.

4. It was no easy task to make these children speak fearlessly. Also
their parents, more often than not, were suspicious and would not
allow their children to speak. It was persistent attempts by our team
that it became possible to interview these children. The Centre plans
to carry out many more such field surveys on communal problems.
Its commitment is to promote harmonious relations between various
religious, communities in India so that our country does not witness
ever again such brutalities which our city witnessed during those
harrowing days. We hope all conscious citizens of this country will
resolutely fight against all communalists and fundamentalists from
whichever community they are let us realise that all communalists
are enemies of our unity and integrity and they must be exposed.
Asghar All Engineer
Chairman
A REPORT ON
THE EXPERIENCE OF CHILDREN IN
THE RIOT AFFECTED AREAS
BOMBAY, 1992-1993
Introduction
Children are part and parcel of the society to which they belong
and are bound to imbibe, respond and react to the socio-economic
and political environment of the milieu. These factors will shape
their thought processes, inner psyche, attitudes and will mould their
character and behavioral patterns.
India marching to the twenty-first century is pock-marked with
communalism. Sections of our people mistakenly believe that those
who follow the same religion have common political, economic,
social and cultural interests. From this arises the notion of
socio-political communities based on religion. It is these religious
communities which are seen as fundamental units of the Indian
society. The Indian people it is mistakenly believed can act socially,
politically and even protect their collective interests, only as .
members of religion based communities. The communalists also
believe that the social, cultural, political and economic interests of
the followers of one religion are dissimilar and divergent from the
interests of another religion. Extreme communalists argue that the
interests of the followers of different religious communities are seen
to be mutually incompatible, antagonistic and hostile. This category
of communalists assert that Hindus and Muslims cannot have
common socio-economic interests and that their interests are bound
to be opposed to each other. Communal violence is a consequence
of such communal ideology. Thus communalism has socio-economic
roots and communal violence is the concomitant of extreme forms
of communal ideologies.
1

5. The Bombay riots were communal riots. The lumpen
socio-economic and criminal categories joined in the fray, and each
one tried to exploit the situation to their advantage. The Bombay
riots found expression in hatred, fear, and used violence of language,
deed and behaviour, and the idiom of war and enemity against
opponents.
This has been the environment to which the Bombay children
have been exposed. The child is the father of the man. The children
of today are the leaders of tomorrow. Children are our great hope,
and at the same time our responsibility. We hope that they will lead
our country to a better tomorrow, but we also have the duty to heal
the scars and wounds with which they have been afflicted, during
this grim period of our country's history.
A child has a right to a childhood. Many children for example
found themselves catapulted into adulthood because of the loss of
parents at gunshot. These children had to be withdrawn from school
and to undertake the responsibility of suporting the family, by joining
the ranks of child labour. These children seem to have a definite
consciousness of particular communities implicated during the riots.
What has been the nature of the scars that have affected these
children? How deep are these wounds? How shall we heal them?
How shall we rescue and rehabilitate these children and make them
responsible citizens? These are the queries which are writ large on
the social canvas of the city.
This research project is based on interviews with twenty-five
children who lived in the riot affected areas of Bombay. Under the
aegis of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism a four
member team visited the riot affected areas. This report is a product
of the analysis of the evidence collected by the team. It restricts
itself to an evaluation of the responses and reactions of Bon;bay
children to the riots.
We must caution that the difficulties of collecting evidence on
our field trips and the use of personal impressions and insights
which are unavoidable tools in a study of this nature may have biased
our account. The majority of children that we spoke to were Muslims
and riot victims, who were willing to talk and needed to talk. Hindu
children and adults in many areas, some victims to a less extent
observed a studied silence or showed indifference or ignorance.
Moreover, when we met these victims of terror of man made human
tragedy, we had problems raising questions. Children had specific
responses of their experiences and gave them spontaneously, but they
displayed a certain amount of confusion when they were queried
about the rationale behind the riots and the unprecedental horror that
they experienced. Most children were aware of the masjid factor,
but some children were not able to make explicit connections in the
events between the destruction of the masjid and the outbreak of the
riots. The consciousness of increased suffering, the targeting of
victims by the police and the betrayal by neighbours formed parts
of most of the responses. Some of them spoke of revenge, and some
spoke of nightmares. We felt that situations produced by a large
scale outbreak of, violence deepen the schisms and intensify popular
negative prcrceptions among communities actually or supposedly in
opposition to each other. Children's testimonies were also evidence
of this factor as they repeatedly said the other community played an
active role in the riots.
However the difficulties of gathering evidence and responses
are only a small part of the problem of reconstructing the narration
of riot victims. The question of how to write about them needs
thinking. There is the obvious danger of sensationalising a report
and rendering it inauthentic. The demands of objectivity in writing
a research project is frequently accompanied by the motive to
organise and simplify the complex and the inexplicable. Even the
kinds of questions that we ask an informant suggest a particular
response from them, those that we are probably hoping to hear, from
a prior understanding of the problem at hand. Keeping in mind these
2
3

6. used to invite friends over and brings films which were shown at
home. Now that he was dead there was no money for such pleasures.
limitations, we decided to make case studies, which arc statements
of meaning which a child has made of his/her situation.
The objective of this study is not to provide solutions to the
complex problems at hand. The aim is rather to join the team of
researchers who are examining the problem of the Bombay riots, in
order that we can make our contribution to the ultimate solution of
this complex issue.
Case Studies
Mohammed Mustafa, seven years old. Lost his father in the
first phase of the riots. Lives with his mother, three brothers and a
sister.
Mohammed said that his father was zari worker who was shot
by the police around midnight on December 7th 1992, a couple of
kilometers away from his house when he was returning home from
work. He lived for an hour after he was hit in the stomach, by the
bullet. He died before his family could reach him. The family is
grateful to their Muslim friends who helped them in their hour of
need.
Mohammed recalled that his father's dead body was immersed
in blood. He believes that the Hindu police shot his father because
he was a Muslim. He hates the police-and is scared of the guns that
they carry. He added that the Babri Masjid was broken the day before
his father died.
Mohammed cried for days after his father died and he kept
hoping that he would return. He said that he sees his father in•his
dreams. On the night before we interviewed him, his father appeared
to him in a dream and told him to grow up to be a good boy and
an earning member of his family in order to help mother financially.
Mohammed had sweet memories about his father. He recollected that
he used to take him to the park, the zoo and the movies. His father
After the death of the father Mohammed and his elder brother
were withdrawn from school. His elder brother who is twelve years
has already started on his father's occupation. Besides he said,
mother needs help in the kitchen and his little brother and sister
need attention. Mohammed too wanted to learn zari work, so that
4
he could start earning and augment the family income. His mother
too wanted him to work, in order to help the family financially.
Mohammed was not too sure about whether he wanted to go to
school. He said he would go to school, if his mother sent him there.
Mother said, she would send him to school next year. Mother too,
did zari work to augment the family income.
Mohammed said that from his house he saw three people killed,
during the riots. One was a Kanchwala, another was a girl of ten
years old and a thrid was a man called Lulla. He could recall the
details of those gory events. How did he react? In the beginning he
was scared, but he is gradually getting over his fear.
Wajida: Eleven years old; lives with her parents, brothers and
six sisters. Studies in the seventh standard; Father does not work.
Her brother who is about twenty-five years old, is a painter and
sustained severe injuries during the January riots.
He was beaten by a group of men-and thrown from the bridge
over Bombay Central Station. His back and pelvic bones were
broken. He was in hospital for about four to five months and moves
with the help of crutches. He goes to the hospital, for his daily
exercise. The doctors have told him that he needs to be operated.
Wajida's brother feels that he will never be able to walk again.
• Wajida appeared to be a sensitive thoughtful child, with total
self control and resigned to the tragedy which has overtaken her
family. She said that their house, with all the possessions in it was
completely burnt. A Muslim charity organisation helped them to
54

7. A
rebuild it. She felt that during the riots the Muslims were the targets,
though Hindus suffered too. She felt that there was no apparent
animosity between the two communities. She said the rioteers came
from outside the basti. When asked if she had feelings of anger and
revenge, she said that she did, but was unable to accept these feelings
within her. When she was asked why people attack and kill innocent
human beings, she remained silent.
Shaikh Muktar : Twelve years old; studies in the fifth standard
in a Madarasa; lost his father in the riots; lives with his mother and
three sisters.
Muktar's father used to eek out a living, buying and selling
used things. Mukthar recalled that on the fatal day his father had
just stepped out of their house to get some tea, when the police shot
him dead. He remembered his father's bloated dead body being taken
to the grave yard. He and his family stayed in a relief camp for ten
days after the riots.
Muktar was witness to the gory happenings that took place in
his basti. he would be able to recognise the people who took part
in the rioting and the looting and recalled the functioning of the
police. He said that the Kathiawadis from the adjacent basti were
responsible for the rioting and arson. When we asked him about his
feelings of anger, he kept silent, but his silence punctuated. by
occasional smiles were only masks for deep inner feeling. When he
thought of his dead father, he cried. and his mother consoled him
saying that they must learn to live without father, because even if
they cry, he will not return.
Mukhtar's mother is worried about her son's attitudes, since he
is constantly swearing revenge against the men who murdered his
father. The child is regular in school, but is a very disturbed child
Mustafa's sensitive condition is a casue of anxiety to his mother and
this adds to the trying problems which weigh her down.
Heena eight years of age; studies in the third standard in a
Muncipal school. Heena's house was burnt down on the afternoon
of the tenth of January and she was a witness to all that took place
afterwards. She said that her house was the first one to be set on
fire. She saw some people, Gujaratis she adds throwing bottles and
bombs at their homes. She and her family fled from their homes and
took shelter elsewhere. As she was runing from the fire, a man hit
her and broke two of her teeth and she was unconscious for a few
days during the riots. She and her family did not return to their
house for six days after they had fled away from it.
The riots have unfortunately affected Heena seriously. She is
the only chhild from among the children that we interviewed that
the riots had left mentally unbalanced. After the riots Heena began
to get sudden fits of madness. She would collect bits of garbage and
say that they were her toys. She would pick up more than her share
at the relief camps and was even scolded by the relief workers for
being greedy. Heena's mother said that the child feels insecure
because she has lost her things and therefore craves for them. She
goes to school but is unable to concentrate on her studies and cannot
remember what is taught to her. During the night, noises bother her.
At the time of the interview she appeared alright, but was undergoing
psychiatric treatment. Heena suffered from physiological
disturbances too. Sometimes her hands and feet got cold and she
talks in her sleep.
The family lost the little they had when their house was burnt.
Her mother used to make clothes, but her sewing machine was
destroyed in the fire. Her father is a cook in a hotel. There is very
little material or psychological support to save the child and her
family from these desperate conditions.
Jainabi ten years old, studies in the fourth standard in an Urdu
school, lost her father in the riots; has five sisters and four brothers.
Jainabi's father had a small sugarcane business. He was killed
on the 11th of January, as soon as he stepped out to buy sugarcane.
76

8. Their house was set on fire and the family was left destitute and is
trying to make both ends meet.
Jainabi said that on the 8th of December, police entered the
Basti and started firing. She feels very bitterly about the police and
says that the police are hand in glove with the criminals and harass
innocent people. Her brother has been picked up during religious
festivals and put in the lock up and even beaten up. She knows about
drug traffickers and liquor barons paying hafta to the police. She
said that the police harassed them even after the riots had subsided.
She also told us about a boy who was killed in January whose body
was cut in three pieces and thrown on the railway tracks. She holds
the Tamilians responsible for this heinous crime.
After the riots Jainabi and the other children had to discontinue
school for at least three months and as a consequence she failed in
the final examination. She said that the entire community felt very
insecure, during those days and was afraid that it would be wiped
out. Even now, she and her brothers and sisters were afraid to go
out alone.
Jainabi is a T.V..viewer and reads the urdu times. She is aware
of the crucial role that the demolition of the Masjid played in starting
of the riots.
Jainabi has many Hindu friends and has no problem in Mixing
with them. They even celebrate the Ganapati festival together.
Lakshmi nine years old, studies in the third standard; lives with
her parents and two ytninger sisters.
Lakshmi was an eye witness to the police firing which took
place in her street. Firing began on January 11th when the police
opened fire on the basti. Three children and three women were hit
by the police bullets, but none of them died, Lakshmi recalled the
chaos that followed the firing. People kept awake throughout the
8
night, calling out to Allah and asking him to be merciful. She felt
that her end was at hand.
There were other kinds of attacks too. Shiv Sainiks forcibly
entered their house and indulged in looting. She recalled that a
woman who was her neighbour was shot in the hip, while she was
feeding her•child who was just six months old. Another woman's
burkha was forcibly removed and she was badly hit. A young boy's
knee was broken to pieces. The wounded people were taken away
in carts and rickshws. Her recollections of the. days of the riots still
send shivers down her spine. "Why should these ghastly riots occur
at all?" she asks.
She said the children did not go to school during those days.
Lakshmi loves going to school and has a lot of Muslim friends. She
likes to read Namaz and keep Roza. She is looking forward to
Ramzan and wants to learn Urdu. in 6ct she does not mix with
Hindus who stay a little away from her street. She whole heartedly
wants to convert to Islam.
Lakshmi wants to .weave baskets, teach her sister to read and
write and learn English. She wants to become a doctor, when she
grows up. She told us about her mother's illness and how she prays
for her recovery. Sometimes when she is pressing her mother's legs,
she feels depressed and wonders what will happen to her if her
mother dies. Her father used to drink and beat up her mother, but
after the riots she got him to promise not to touch liquor again.
Luckily he has kept his promise.
Lakshmi feels she is lucky she has a home and a family. She
loves her parents and wants a brother so that she can tie rakhee. She
is scared of the police even to this day.
Kalpana aged ten; lives with her parents and two brothers; her
house was completely looted during the riots; they had to leave their
home and live elsewhere.
9

9. Kalpana lives in a Hindu basti, which is close to a Muslim
basti. She is an articulate girl and gave a graphic account of events
on the day the violence began. She saw a group of Muslim men
coming towards her basti with knives, axes etc. They beat up people
and set fire to the jopdis, as there was panic among the jopda dwellers
since the fire began to spread. They were forced to leave their
dwellings and look for shelter elsewhere. Kalpana and her family
found shelter in a near by building, but she was unable to identify
its exact nature. A Jesuit priest came to their rescue. He and his
missionaries at Wadala gave them food and shelter and helped them
to rebuild their homes. Ka'pant and her family were very touched
by his gesture and think that he was their savior.
Kalpana continued to speak about the riot stricken days. She
had seen Muslims beat up people with cycle chains and knives. She
particularly recalled that there was a big Muslim who was going
around terroising people and said that he is still seen around
terrorising them. She recalls that the days spent in the common
shelter were terrible days. Nobody slept for days for fear of
destructiion of life and property.
• Kalpana felt that Muslims from outside the basti had contacts
with Muslims in the bastis, for the bastis could not have contained
elements that were capable of unleashing so much terror and
violence. She thought that the violence was engineered for material
gain.
left their homes. Many others had left the basti too and they were
slowly returning, but they were finding it difficult to find work.
•
We asked Naina whether she mixes freely with both Hindus
and Muslims. She hesitated to answer. Her mother gesticulated
angrily from outside and appeared to be furious with her. Her mother
soon dragged her away and she ran off and disappeared. Though
Naina was willing to talk to us she was effected by her mother and
clamped up. Both the child and her mother felt that there may be
trouble if they spoke to us:
A study of this particular case drives home the fact that there
is a heightened consciousness of religious differences in the area,
though we do not know to what extent it existed before the riots.
Aslarn twelve years old; lives with his family of ten; studies
in the tenth standard; father is a carpenter.
The area where Aslam lives was subject to gruesome arson and
torching of the entire neighbourhood. Since his father and most of
their neighbours are engaged in woodwork and carpentry, they lost
entire business and livelihood. He recalled that there were three
people who were killed in his neighbouredhood. One of them who
was a murghiwallah was burnt to death in his shop another who was
a cyclewallah was stabbed to death and a third was a girl who was
ten years old. Nobody has been arrested by the police yet most of
the people in his neighbourhood, fled from the basti and went to
live with friends and relatives. Aslam and his family sought
protection in Azad Nagar, a Muslim Mohalla which was safe at the
time of riots. Later he left for U.P. while his father stayed back in
Bombay in order to restart work. After all how long could they seek
shelter without work or money.
Aslam spoke with resignation and a sense of defeatism. "What
can the weak do against the strong. We are helpless and they can
attack us even now he said. He did not express strong anti-Hindu
sentiment, but he did say that the Hindus and the Marathis were
11
Naina aged twelve; studies in the fourth standard; lives with
her parents and a sister.
Naina's household was the only Hindu household in a Muslim
dominated basti. She called the Muslims Bengalis. When we
questioned her about the cause of the riots she replied that she
thought it was the handiwork of Muslims whose primary motive was
robbery and arson. She said that she felt afraid and restless during
the riot ridden days, but she felt safer once she and her family had
10

10. responsible not only for the riots, but for other problems also, for
example they had arranged to remove Urdu as a medium of
instruction and to introduce Marathi in a school nearby. He thought
this was a motivated act. We tried to prod him on to talk about the
people who had inflicted suffering on them. Asian) said that revenge
should be taken on them, but he was doubtful whether any action
would be taken at all. He felt quite helpless.
Enameer Rehman about eight years old; studies in the 3rd
standard, lives with parents and seven brothers.
The Janab of Ahniedia Masjid at Ghatkopar took us to a street
which had rows of houses which were charred and still had locks
on them. A lone man who lived in one of the houses related to us
the horrors that took place during the December riots. The bastis
were set on fire. Fifteen scared people who locked themselves up in
a room were enveloped in flames. He said most of the families in
the area have fled, and have gone to live in Muslim bastis in Bombay
or have returned to their native place. He had sent his family to
their native place, while he stayed in Bombay, to earn a living.
He said, that there was an unholy alliance between the Hindus
within the bastis. others outside and the police. He broke down at
the memory of friends who turned enemies and indulged in arson
and destruction. He felt that the Muslims are people who do Namaz
and earn their daily bread honestly.. They did not expect or deserve
such victimisation. He thought that communalism has finally
entrenched itself in Bombay. He said that the formation of Muslim
ghetoes are the only way to provide Muslims with security.
Enameer's family lived on this street. Afther the horrors of the
January riots, they fled along with the others and they went to live
with an aunt. His mother said that Enameer was normally a talkative
and playful child. However, he was not willing to speak to us and
he said that he had forgotten all that had happened. After much
probing, he said that the Hindus who live on the hill were responsible.
He disclosed that his entire house was looted and that they were
forced to abandon it. His teacher and some others had told him that
there was a van which conies from the hill to catch Muslim children.
It has taken away a girl.
We prodded him and he told us that he does not mix with
Hindus, they throw stones at him. He soon clamped up and refused
to talk.
Shafiq aged nine- lives in a Muslim basti at Dharavi.
Shafiq recollects that on the 25th of January 1993, at mid-night,
he was sleeping next to his parents. When bullets which were fired
from outside whizzed through the asbestos shut walls and hit his
sleepign parents. The bullets hit his father in the chest and his mother
in the arm. Shafiq said that bullets were fired by a police man. He
was a witness to this gruesome incident. The neighbours immediately
rushed his parents to the hospital after the incident. He lived with
his neighbours after the incident and saw his parents in the hospital
after three days. His mother was under medical care for six months
after the incident. His father who is a mechanic was unable to
continue work from the day of the injury, since the wound in his
chest has not yet healed. The family has two or three relatives staying
with them and has no stable income.
Shafiq said that he was afraid to step out during. those riot
ridden days. He is a quiet boy and is unable to articulate his feelings.
When we questioned him, he very often seemed to think and was
unable to give us an answer. He looked disturbed and did not want
to meet our eyes. He said that he did not know anything about the
riots and why they had taken place. He almost refused to understand
what he had experienced. We asked him whether he was curious
why innocents like himself and his parents were victimised. He said
that his parents were innocent, but was unable to articulate further.
Shafiq has many Muslim friends and he told us the names of
twelve of them. He said that Hindus don't talk to him, nor had he
tried to make friends with them. His mother interrupted to say that
12
13

11. they live in a Muslim mohalla and that it is unlikely that the boy
can make friends with Hindus. But they have nothing against Hindus,
she added.
Analysis
Children don't belong to an isolated strata, but are actively
interacting with, and being shaped by society. They are located within
an active, on going culture and enter into a dynamic inter-relationship
with it. Children are constantly imbibing and imitating what is seen
and told to them, displaying these in their many actions. There is
also a whole range of thoughts, unheard and inarticulated, but
constantly alive and informing children. In this section, we have
tried to organise children's responses and our field experiences, with
a view to arrive at generalisations on the impact of riots on children.
We have catagorised the responses, based on the nature of lossess,
suffered by children. There are three instances where the child lost
his/her father, all in police firing. Mustafa (case 1 and Muktar case
3) are both shy and reticent boys, deeply affected by their fathers'
sudden death. There is a sense of gloom surrounding these families,
despite the normality with which they went about their lives, Mustafa
has dropped out of school to help his mother in the kitchen and look
after his little brother and sister. His twelve year old elder brother
is already working full time to support the family. Ten year old
Janiabi (case 5), who lost her father, has resumed studies, but lives
amidst poverty in a large family. All the three families have lost
their economic stability along with the head of their families. These
children are highly conscious of the circumstances that surround
their personal losses. They are aware that the demolition was a vital
link to the violence that followed, the targeting of the Muslim
community and the communalisation of the police and
neighbourhood. Muktar and Mustaq have only Muslim friends and
infact felt that Hindu boys discriminated against them. These children
have developed a crisis of confidence in the police and the law
enforcement machinery. Mustafa speaks with absolute clarity,
indicting the 'Hindu' police force for his fathers death. Janibi
14
considers the police, as a group of corrupt men, given to harrasing
her community. It is evident that these children are growing up with
little faith in the formal law and order structures of our society. It
is quite shattering to note that tragedy has touched the most intimate
being of these children's lives. Mustafa remembers the good days
he had with his father, while Muktar is constantly swearing vengence.
How do we console them? Jainabi is more courageous, is living in
a large joint family and has taken her loss bravely.
We came across four instances of grievous body injury to family
members, three of them due to police firing and one, a cruel instance
of beating and knifing by a group of men. Wajida (case 2) did not
speak of revenge when she was reminded of her crippled brother.
She kept silent when questioned about the causes of these riots and
the destruction of innocent lives. She came across as a sensitive
thinking girl, unwilling to share her thoughts with strangers like us.
A sense of resignation has enveloped her. Shafiq (case ii) was also
ununwillig to talk, when we remined him of the night, his sleeping
parents were hit by bullets and fired by the police. Shehnaz stopped
going to school after her mother was hit by a bullet on her lips. She
is shouldering the responsibility of running her house and she has
accepted it with great courage and grace. The children, who
constantly live with the scare of violence, have shown great resilence,
and are actively supporting their families. The inability to study or
play freely, bothers them, but has not stopped them from providing
sustenance to parents and siblings. As children, they have had to
face the sudden immobilisation of an active, earning member of their
family and the concommittant economic emotional hardships. Shafiq
told us that he has forgotten the ghastly incident of his parents being
hit by bullets. The hesitation and the expression in his eyes betray
him. He looked woefully disturbed by our questions. At the moment
the question of their future did not bother them. As outsiders and
researchers we can only wish for their well being amidst the
shakiness that surround their days to come.
15

12. We recorded about twelve instances of loss to property in fire,
lootine, and arson, with very little compensation reachng the grieved
families. About six children we interviewd were witnesses to these
events. Most families who lost their houses in fire and arson had to
find shelter elswherc, in masjids, relief camps and in one case with
a missionary. They lost even the precious little they possessed.
Heena's mother lost her sewing machine and her livelihood along
with it. Some families are still staying with friends or relatives unable
to make up for their losses. There is the unfortunate case of Heena
(case 4), who is still undergoing psychiatric treatment in a hospital.
She is mentally unbalanced after having witnessed arson and terror
in her locality. Most children vividly remember the horror of men
wielding weapons, setting fire to houses, the cries of children and
the sleepless nights of vigil. Children have been forced to discontinue
studies for a couple of months and consequently failed their final
terms.
Children seem to have a definite consciousness of particular
communities implicated and those that were targeted during the riots.
Some of the children we spoke to showed signs of accepting
violences as an everyday reality, even while disapproving of its
happenings.
As researchers, we had entered our field, with a hope to discover
children untouched and untainted by .communal sentiments. We did
find one Lakshmi (case 6) who lives in Behrampada, in a Muslim •
basti and who out of her own volition whole heartedly, wants to
embrace Islam. The religion has given her courage and hope to face
her little world that had crumbled before her eyes. Lakshmi was
more of an exception than a rule. Most Muslim children who lived
in Muslim mohallas, went to madrasas or urdu schools. One wonders
if any of these children and their families would be secure in a
mixed neighbourhood, after the brutal encounters they have
withstood. Many of them have expressed a dominant feeling about
being secure only amongst their own community. Children who have
been through the thick of violence and rioting were subject to
16
extreme fear. Children living in Behrampada are still afraid of noises,
reminding them of the bombs that rained down their area.
Naina, (case 8) is among the few Hindu families who lives in
a Muslim dominated area. She was terrified of Muslims and
implicated them for causing riots. Hindu children in Tulsiwadi and
Antop Hill had some what similar responses, in the sense that,
Muslims were held responsible for rioting. Some of them clearly say
that "Musalman log ne kiya hai". Kalpana (case 7) remembers a tall
Muslim, who's very sight frightens her to this day. Similarly, the
Muslim children very clearly implicate the 'Hindu' police, Shiv
Sainiks and Kathiawadis in one basti, for their collective suffering.
A Musliiiu women in Bherampada harbours a notion of poetic justic
in the bomb blasts that rocked the city. She adds it was a divine
intervention, in response to Muslim suffering. One gets a very
disturbing sense of heightened communal awareness in children's
responses even if some of them mix and play together in the
neighbourhood. It must be remembered that these children are silent
victims and witness to the carnage and are constantly listening
observing and experiencing the adult world around them. The impact
of it all is bound to work at various levels, at various moments in
time, in a child's life. Impacts are both short term and long term
and may take complex mainfestations. In the case of putting forth
a theory of heightened communal awareness in children after the
riots, it would be necessary to know if the feeling of differnce existed
prior to the riots and had gone through a qualitative change thereafter.
More studies need to be done to understand the depth of these
perceptions and its implications for community life.
Apart from economic and personal losses, in which these
children workout their future they are forced to compromise with
the meagre life chances, society provides them. What would they
grow up to be? Some of them already face the burden of
responsibility, towards siblings and wounded parents.
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13. The children who displayed a confusion about the logistics of
riots were disturbed when we questioned them about the
unprecedented suffering that they were subject to. They are unable
to make sense of such briktality, victimisation and the partisan role
the law and order machinery played in these riots. They will have
to grow up and find truths for themselves.
The potential lumpenisation and economic marginalisation of
these children in future, make them ideal candidates for political
manipulation. But then, these children, to school, harbour ambitions,
laugh and play. How long will it last?
Conclusion
A lot of serious analysis has been done and different theories
of the riots have been put forward, with the result that there has
emerged an understanding of the phenomenon that occurred in the
city. Our survey is a contribution to the on going dialogue and our
research work provides one among many perspectives of the debate.
We reiterate that the limitations inherent in our field experiences,
enable us to provide only a partial perspective of our research
problem. In our concluding remarks we shall provide an overview
of our project, underpinning certain dominant findings that surfaced
in the course of our analysis.
The conclusions that we have arrived at are as disturbing as
the phenomenon that we studied. The Bombay riots which destroyed
the city's cosmopolitan image also revealed the root causes of the
violence and the socio-economic factors which contributed to its
causes and its course. Violence of this nature is soon becoming a
frequent reality in the city. We must repeat that children are the most
vulnerable though least visible of groups to be affected by such
conditions. It is with grave forebodings for the future that we put
forward out final comments. The fear and horror which the children
experienced at the hands of strangers, the police and in some cases
of neighbours and friends are hound to seriously effect their thought
processes and the world views which they hold, and will hold in the
future. It is naive to believe that these children will remain untouched
and unsullied by communal feelings.
Apart from economic and personal losses, some of them have
been forced to give up the meagre life opportunities which society
had provided for them. Some of them are already facing the burden
of responsibility, towards siblings and wounded parents.
The children were confused and disturbed when we questioned
them about the unprecedented suffering that they were subjected to.
They were unable to make sense of the brutality, victimisation and
the partisan role played by the machinery; of law and order, in these
riots. They will have to grow up and find truths for themselves.
The riots are bound to have mixed, complex and multiple
manifestations on children.' These are still unclear and nebulous.
Putting these manifestations into facile slots will be a simplified
theoretical exercise therefore self-defeating. We can only be sure
that Bombay has a threat of communal and ethnic strife in store,
and that therefore gloom awaits these children unless the law givers
and the society begin to function and check it.
Communalists are manipulating people and children suffer from
the repercussions. Communalists talk of defending their community's
interests. In real life there are no such interests. The economic, social
and political interests of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs etc. are the same.
As Hinduss or Muslims they do not have a separate cco-political
life or interests. People have different languages, class, caste, social
status, social practices, food, dress, habits etc. and are united on
these aspects with the followers of other religions. An upper class
Muslim has more in common with an upper class Hindu than a lower
class Muslim. Communal tensions blur the differences among Indian
people which are really based on the linguistic, regional and class
differences, and which ought to be resolved within the framework
of the nation. The children interviewed did not show a consciousness
of this truism. They should be made aware of it.
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14. India is committed to secularism. Communalism is a one-sided .
and unscientific view. In the name of serving his community's
interest, the communalists are knowingly or unknowingly serve some
other interest. He therefore either deceives others or unconsciously
deceives himself. Communal assumptions, communal logic and
communal answers are wrong.
The survey showed that the children interviewed were unaware
of these perceptions. The Bombay society has a duty to awaken its
children and make them conscious of these secular concepts if
communal violence is to be checked and communal harmony to be
restored. A society riddled with social inequalities, economic
deprivation and conscious communal manipulations has very little
to offer Mustafa, Jainabi and Kalpana.
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