Victims recall horrific ordeal during communal violence in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband

“Every time I saw images of the riot on my mobile phone or on my television, I would cry, wondering how one person could do this to another. But that day, it happened to me. My husband kept saying, ‘Stop, forgive me, what’s my fault?’ he said. But no one listened. People kept hitting him.”

This is how a 35-year-old woman, a victim of communal violence in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband on Sunday, February 1, 2026, recalled her family’s several-hour-long ordeal, standing next to her husband in a wheelchair, his legs plastered and almost his entire body covered in bandages. A large gang allegedly attacked about 10 Muslim families in Dutkaiya village, set their houses on fire and forced them to flee.

The violence was the result of a chain of events that began a few hours earlier when three men, one of whom was out on bail in a temple desecration case, allegedly attacked locals.

For the woman, who wished to remain anonymous due to security fears, what she had to endure was not just the attack on her husband or the arson. The mob also threatened her with sexual assault and she claimed she was forced to shout ‘Jai Shri Ram’ after the attackers issued a chilling warning that they would otherwise kill her seven-year-old son.

Vandalism and arson continued in front of their home for several hours. As the mob continued to breach the main entrance, the woman, her husband, and her son locked themselves in one room, while the four women and their underage daughter were in another room.

‘There is no escape’

The woman said, “I tried to close the door with a closet, but they broke it with a full gas cylinder. He hit the door so hard that it exploded completely. There was no escape. He was inside and brutally beat my husband in front of me. I begged him, but they said, ‘Wait, it will be your turn from now on. Let your husband die properly, then it will be your turn, then it will be your son’s turn.'” Hindu at a government hospital in Raipur where his wife was receiving treatment. All other Muslim families in the village also took refuge in the state capital.

He added that there were some police officers near the house, but they were stopped by gang members.

“I kept calling the police, they were trying to come but they couldn’t. I felt helpless. The youths in the crowd were armed with sticks, swords, knives and sticks. They threw my mobile phone and broke it. They beat my husband so badly that he fainted. I used a pillow to support him and told him to stay alive. The pillow provided some cushioning but then they continued to brand him with sticks,” she recalled.

While the crowd was talking about the revenge of the four villagers who were attacked by Arif Qureshi (18) and Salim Khan (23) (both from Dutkaiya) and Imran Siddiqui (18) of Raipur, the woman said her plea was of no importance, explaining that her family or other Muslim families in the village had nothing to do with these events.

The men then dragged her away and threatened to sexually assault her. “I feared the worst, but at that time some of the police managed to get in. While they were escorting us and my injured husband, we were attacked from behind again,” she said.

Threat of sexual assault

A relative of the woman who lived in another house in the same neighborhood in Dutkaiya shared a similar story. The 36-year-old man said the crowd threatened both his 15-year-old daughter and himself with sexual assault and dragged them away, while her husband was attacked with a knife to save them. He said he was injured in his hand. “There were 4 children and 8 women in my house at the time, including some neighbors whose houses burned down. Luckily, my husband, despite being injured, managed to get us back and we locked ourselves in another room until the police arrived,” she said.

Both women said they lost valuables, such as a log car that was burned or gold jewelry that was allegedly looted. While they wanted the perpetrators of the incident in which seven police officers were injured to be punished as soon as possible, they also demanded that arrangements be made for their security.

Syed Naved Ashraf from Raza Birlik Foundation, which provides assistance to these families, said that there should be an impartial, transparent and high-level investigation into the incident.

Gariaband Police Inspector Vedvrata Sirmour said on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, that seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence. He said efforts were in line with the district administration to talk to village elders and create a conducive atmosphere over concerns expressed by Muslim families about their return and future security. He added that on Wednesday, some Muslim residents visited Dutkaiya to collect their belongings.

It was published – 04 February 2026 21:42 IST