‘I begged, told them I’m a soldier… I was told I’m Muslim, nothing else’

They burnt his uniform, his identity card, even his gallantry certificates, besides ransacking the house, says the Constable, posted with the BSF’s 51st battalion. “I saw my house being set on fire by our own neighbours. They were in thousands. Then they tried to throw my brother Sikandar into the fire. My wife fainted,” Khati told The Indian Express. “I pleaded with them. I told them I am a soldier. I told them I am fighting for the country at the border. They didn’t listen. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. I was told I am Muslim and nothing else.”

But what hurt him more, Khati says, was the indifferent attitude of the police. “The situation was tense since the day riots broke in Dhule. We were anticipating attacks. But not one policeman came to rescue us,” he said. “We spent the entire night outside the police station urging the officer to register our complaint. Instead of assuring us relief, the police asked us to leave our house at the earliest.”

The violence in Dhule started as a minor conflict over some Muslims allegedly tearing up posters put up by local Hindu groups urging Hindus to wake up following the spate of bomb blasts around the country. But it soon escalated, resulting in 10 people being killed and nearly 200 injured. It also spread to areas like Khati’s Shirud village, which is about 25 km from Dhule town.

Khati was given a job in the BSF on compassionate grounds in 2002 after his father Riyaz Khati, also a Sub-Inspector in the force, died on duty. “I have taken part in several (counter-insurgency) operations but I have never felt scared. That day, I was frightened. I thought we will all be killed,” said Khati, who has been living with relatives in the neighbouring town of Malegaon since the attack.

Late last week, when The Indian Express visited Dhule, Inspector-General of Police S P Gupta claimed: “Khati is just floating stories. Earlier, he asked us to provide transport to the neighbouring village of Challisgaon claiming he had to resume work. Now he says his house has been ransacked. Since he is in Malegaon now, he should first lodge a complaint with the Malegaon police.”

But bureaucratic wheels have since moved, what with the BSF promising to take up the matter with the Maharashtra administration and also assuring Khati and his family help. On Tuesday, an FIR was finally registered in Malegaon, eight days after Khati and his family were targeted.

The experience has made Khati distraught and bitter. “I have been serving for years now and I had never felt that I was treated differently because I am a Muslim. In my battalion, we are all like brothers. But here it is different. I have no home now,” he says, adding that the family plans to move to Muslim-majority Malegaon. “We feel safe in our area, amongst our people.”