At 7.30 pm on February 8, Zahid, 45, left his home in Gafur Basti in Haldwani to buy milk.
Soon after, his son Mohammad Anas, 16, learned that violence had flared up in their neighbourhood, triggered by the Haldwani Municipal Corporation demolishing a mosque and madrasa as part of an “anti-encroachment drive”. Anxious, Anas left their home to bring his father back.
