Reality of Curfews During Communal Violence

If you look at it on paper, they will tell you both sides were held. But when you look at how they were held and why they were held, what charges were framed — you'll find that this person has a murder charge on them, that person has a theft charge. The legal apparatus, in that sense, qualitatively verifies and victimizes. Quantitatively it looks equal — the state looks with both eyes. The bigger difference is in whose eyes carry fear, whose don't. We used to see, whether it was Bhiwandi or Moradabad or Delhi, when a flag march happened, peace would return. When they saw the army's uniform, everyone became equal. Now, okay, a curfew would be imposed — in the morning, milk would still reach the Hindu locality, and milk would still reach the children in the Muslim locality too. It's not as if the milkman would be stopped from going. Today it isn't like that. Today, if a curfew is imposed, it's imposed on one neighborhood. That neighborhood's lanes are shut. Another neighborhood's lanes stay open. Outside, people are riding motorcycles on the road, they're roaming around, they're roaming around carrying sticks.