EID was usually the time BSF soldier Arif Hussain Khati came home to Dhule in northern Maharashtra from his posting in the militancy-torn Jammu and Kashmir.

However, this year, the festivities turned nearly fatal for him. Three days after Eid, on October 5, Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Dhule, and the soldier who puts his life at risk everyday in Bandipora, guarding the country’s borders, had to beg frenzied mobs to spare him and his family.

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.”

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