Many bear cuts from stepping on broken bottles and stones flung by the violent mob. They are unwilling to go back without police protection. Some fear the goats and hens they have left locked up inside their houses will die without food or water. Others are sure that the houses left unlocked when they ran to save their lives would have been looted by now.

``We tried to go back this morning to get some clothes and food, but were pelted with stones and had to return empty-handed,'' says Mehboob Kadarbhai, a food contractor on the railway station. Social workers of Jamalpur provided them food in the afternoon. Until then, they had to manage with whatever little money they had. Others, who did not have any, stayed hungry.

The trouble started around 7 pm when a mob started building up in the locality. As the shouting and stone-throwing began, women and children were moved out of the area. Those taking shelter at the railway station say they were closed in from almost all sides and had to jump the high Himadri Mill wall. ``Children were just dropped from about 10 feet and many have suffered small cuts. We pelted the frenzied mob with a barrage of stones in order to escape,'' says Kadarbhai.

While the men held the mob back, the women and children were rushed to safety, he adds. ``We even approached the Shaher Kotda Police Station, but they told us that the force had been sent to Kalupur; they had no vehicles and nobody could come with us. We begged them to accompany us, even offered to take them in hired autorickshaws, but they just refused to budge. The PSI on duty himself told us to evacuate the chali and run for our lives,'' Kadarbhai adds.

Children are puzzled by their predicament. Twelve-year-old Mohammad Hussain is hanging around only in his trousers. ``I had to run barefeet, without any clothes,'' he points out. Rehmat Bibi, 32, says she went back this morning to find that the `kirana' shop she ran had been burnt down. ``They had broken the lock and entered my house also. My husband is dead, I have four children, we just jumped the wall of our house and ran last night,'' she says, displaying her bandaged foot, which was cut by a pelted stone.

Motor mechanic Sattarbhai Jumperwala says his garage in Saraspur has been burnt down. ``They set fire to my scooter in front of my eyes. We just ran for our lives when the mob started pelting stones at us,'' he says. Pappad seller Patul Bibi, 50, who has a deep gash on her foot from a broken bottle, says she is worried about the goats and hens she has locked up inside her house. ``They will die without food and water. I want to go back home. Leave alone people, these men have not even spared animals,'' she laments.