Mohammad Zubair was on his way home from a local mosque in northeast Delhi when he came across a large crowd. He turned towards an underpass to avoid the commotion; it proved to be a mistake.
Within seconds, he was cowering on the ground surrounded by more than a dozen young men, who began beating him with wooden sticks and metal rods. Blood flowed from his head, spattering his clothes. The blows intensified. He thought he would die.
Zubair provided his version of events at a relative’s home in another part of the capital, his head wrapped in bandages.
The mid-afternoon attack on Monday, captured in a dramatic Reuters photograph that showed him crouched on the ground as a crazed mob rained blows on him with stumps and sticks that broke from the impact, came against a backdrop of the worst riots in the capital in decades.
Near the area where it occurred, Muslim and Hindu groups had been fighting pitched battles for hours across a concrete and metal barrier that divided the main thoroughfare, throwing rocks and petrol bombs.
“They saw I was alone, they saw my cap, beard, shalwar kameez and saw me as a Muslim,” Zubair told Reuters. “They just started attacking, shouting slogans. What kind of humanity is this?”
An unconscious Zubair was eventually dragged to safety by fellow Muslims who came to his aid after throwing stones to disperse his attackers.
The 37-year-old, who makes a living doing odd jobs, was rushed to hospital where he was treated for wounds to his head and released late on Monday. “I was thinking ‘I’m not going to survive this’,” he recalled.
BJP spokesman Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga said his party did not support any kind of violence, including the attack on Zubair. He blamed rival parties for stoking the chaos during US President Donald Trump’s visit in order to damage India’s image.
Bagga said the central government, which controls Delhi police, moved to deploy paramilitary forces in order to bring the situation under control. “I believe within 24 hours everything will be fine,” he added.
Delhi police were not immediately available for comment on the attack on Zubair.
Reuters witnesses at a local hospital spoke to both Hindu and Muslim victims who were injured in the violence.