Karauli riots: A Rajasthani woman stood alone in front of a mob and protected some 15 men, most of them Muslims. When the mob tried to attack the men, they rushed into her shop for shelter amid riots in Rajasthan‘s Karauli on April 2.
A woman Madhulika Singh, a widow with two children, runs a garments business for the last five years since her husband died. A procession just passed by her shop to mark the Hindu New year. Trouble erupted when the procession entered an area where many Muslims live.
According to NDTV, the police said that the procession played sensitive slogans on a loudspeaker. Very soon there was violence and stone-pelting.
Madhulika Singh said she heard people shouting and sounds of shop shutters being hurriedly pulled down. She stepped out to see what was happening. She said, she saw people running away, only to be confronted by people on the streets. She saw some people started setting some shops on fire.
Ms. Singh said, “I saw people running, shutting down their shutters because they said riots have broken out. I locked the gate of the shopping complex and told them not to worry. I saved them because above everything else it is humanity that matters.”
However, the mob tired to break in, but Ms. Singh stopped them. The men who took shelter in her house, praised her for her bravery. They said that she gave them tea and water.
In all this chaos, Ms. Singh’s brother, Sanjay had come to pick up his daughter from tuition. He also joined her in protecting the men from the mob. Sanjay said, “of the 15-16 people who my sister gave shelter, 13 must have been Muslims”.
The brother-sister duo did not allow Muslim men out till the conditions calmed down. However, BJP and Congress have alleged that each one is responsible. The people in the town told the politicians, not to spoil the atmosphere of the locality as there was unity in both the communities since years.
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