Communal Violence, Riots in Mira Road

“I was born in Mira-Bhayandar. Generations of my father’s family have lived here. We have been in that same locality (Naya Nagar) even at 12:00 am or 1:00 am sometimes. We have taken that road so many times. Nothing untoward has ever happened before this. Hence, we did not imagine that a (Ram) flag on a car would cause problems to anybody,” said Sunaina Gupta (33), a housewife and a mother of a 12-year-old boy.

On the night of 21 January, a night ahead of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Sunaina’s video of her trying to battle a mob of men with a bleeding head went viral on social media.

Communal tensions flared up in Naya Nagar after a Pran Pratishtha rally was allegedly attacked on Sunday night, leading to violence that continued for the next two days.