Delhi violence: Distraught father awaits son's return

Yunus, 38, has been making frantic rounds of hospitals and mortuaries for the last five days, hoping to find his 16-year-old son Yusuf.

A Class XI student, Yusuf left his home in northeast Delhi's Chand Bagh, which has been wracked by violence for days, on Sunday to go to an eatery and hasn't returned since.

"Around 5 pm on Sunday, I was working in lane number 15 when Yusuf came to me and asked for Rs 100. I gave him the money and he left saying he was going to an eatery. When I reached home at night, I found that my son hadn't returned," Yunus, who works as a plumber, told PTI on Friday.

"Yusuf does not have a mobile phone and we are not aware of his whereabouts. I went to the GTB Hospital today, but he was not there. I searched the mortuary as well but in vain," the worried father said.

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Asked why the family hasn't lodged a police complaint yet, Yunus said, "The situation here hasn't been conducive since Monday."

With hope fading, he said the family will now lodge a police complaint.

Yusuf is the eldest of Yunus' three children.

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At least 42 people were killed and over 200 injured in the communal clashes that broke out in northeast Delhi after violence between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and those opposing it spiralled out of control on Sunday.

Frenzied mobs torched houses, shops, vehicles, a petrol pump and pelted stones at local residents and police personnel.

Besides Chand Bagh, Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Babarpur, Yamuna Vihar, Bhajanpura, Chand Bagh, Shiv Vihar areas were among the riot-hit areas.

(Image credit: PTI)

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