Click to play videoMumbai: The riots of 14 years ago still return to haunt many a Mumbaikar.
While the Srikrishna Commission attempted to bring justice to the victims, successive governments shied away from acting on it.
Caught in the red tape are the relatives of victims from both sides of the religious divide.
"The fear of the riots has subsided, but like the constant pain of a thorn pricking, the pain is always going to be there,” says a victim’s relative Abdul Raub Shaikh.
It's a thought that has been echoing in every member's heart in the Shaikh household for the last 14 years. On December 8 1992, the youngest member of their household, 26-year-old Abdul Razzaq Shaikh was shot dead while returning from the local mosque.
Abdul's 80-year-old father Kasim Shaikh is yet to overcome the shock. Abdul didn't even get a decent funeral.
"There were many people who wanted to at least accompany him on his last journey. But there was curfew and we got passes for just six persons,” says Abdul.
While many say that the minority community suffered the maximum in the 1992 riots, the truth is that violence knows no religion.
For 35-year-old Leena Shinde, thoughts of spending her life with her childhood lover was cut short by destiny. Her husband went missing during the riots, leaving her to fend for herself and her 14-day old baby.
"He left my sister's place at 11:30 in the night in an auto. There is no news from him after that,” she says.
But Leena refuses to give up hope. "Just because nothing is found so far, I cannot say something wrong has happened,” she says.
While politicians may talk about investigations and commission reports, for families of these victims, justice delayed is justice denied.
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