“We are left with nothing,” Gulshan, 28, said, while talking to Miles2Smile. “They destroyed it all. Where will we go now?” she added.
As families across the city celebrated Eid, Gulshan wandered from one neighbour’s house to another, clutching a few salvaged belongings, seeking shelter. But the doors remained closed; no one offered her help. “I went from one house to another… hoping to get shelter, but nobody came forward; nobody helped me,” she told Miles2Smile, with tears in her eyes and pain in her voice. Her festival was spent sitting beside the rubble of her life, with no food, no roof, and no one to turn to. Her house was demolished. Her everything was demolished. What remained was the trauma which did not end with the demolition. Gulshan revealed to Miles2Smile being coerced into signing a document she couldn’t even read. “The police had a pistol and ‘lathi’… I got scared and signed the paper,” she said.
On what was meant to be a day of celebration and togetherness, Gulshan sat quietly near the remnants of what used to be her home. The air was thick with dust, despair, and disbelief. “They have made us homeless,” she said, her voice barely rising above the sound of the wind rustling through broken bricks and twisted tin. Gulshan’s home, the product of years of labour and sacrifice, was torn down in minutes. The bulldozers came without warning, accompanied by a swarm of policemen. She tried to stop them—pleaded, shouted, begged. But her cries were drowned out by the roar of machines and the silence of authority.
What she signed away, she still doesn’t know. Her consent, her rights, or her silence, everything is unclear. What is clear is the fear that gripped her that day, a fear no one should be forced to live through. What perhaps hurts the most is the lack of justification. “The police checked my house; they found nothing,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “On what basis did they demolish it?” We asked her, but she could not tell, it was illegal demolished she claimed. Gulshan’s story is not just about a home reduced to rubble; it is about the erasure of dignity.
Amidst all the hatred and unjust, a silver lining emerged in the somber clouds, Miles2Smile, provided her immediate emergency assistance for both her survival and education of children. This little help reduced the burden , not completely but reasonably. “Thank You, Miles2Smile for seeing me, hearing me, and helping me.” she said.
What Happened that Day?
The district administration bulldozed 14 Muslim houses to the ground in Bhainswahi village, a tribal-dominated area in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, on June 15, days before Eid. The houses were reportedly demolished in an operation targeting cow smuggling and beef trading. The administration alleged that 150 cows were found during the raid. However these families have a different tale to narrate; all of them said it was mere suspicion, which led to just a destruction.
