It has been a week since the riots broke out in northeast Delhi and the death toll has now risen to 47 with over 300 people sustaining injuries. No fresh incident of violence has been reported in the last few days, but residents were panic-stricken following rumours of violence on March 1.

Now the Delhi police and politicians denied that there was any violence and appealed to the people to remain calm. Police have arrested 24 people in connection with rumour-mongering.

The Delhi government has taken a slew of measures to provide relief to those affected by the riots. Nine shelter homes have been made available for those who have been rendered homeless. Food is being distributed across riot-hit areas, while victims of the clashes are being provided Rs 25,000 in monetary support.

The Delhi government has constituted a nine-member 'Peace and Harmony Committee' headed by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj to ensure that there are no violent incidents. AAP MLA Atishi and Raghav Chadha are members of the committee. The peace panel held its first meeting on March 2 to discuss measures to tackle rumour and hate mongering.

The committee is mulling to reward people who file complaints against those spreading fake and hate messages.

Saurabh and social activist Anjali Bharadwaj shared their views and outlook on the situation.

“In the last few years, there is a lot of mistrust and hatred that has developed between Hindus and Muslims. They are somehow disturbed by a lot of news, which are creating a feeling as if they are enemies and are strategising and scheming against each other," said Saurabh.

"Most of these messages are fake, they have no factual basis. So we are publicising that if you are spreading hatred using social media, you are liable for three years imprisonment. We're asking people that if you notice any such posts, you should take a screenshot and send it to our committee. We have a team of legal experts who will verify them and ascertain if that crime was committed,” he added.

Moreover, activist Anjali pointed out, “What has happened in Delhi, in terms of the violence, has been extremely painful for all those who are involved, people have been brutalised. More than anything else, people are in a state of fear. We have heard over the past few days that the police, who are the first port of call when someone is in distress, have let people down in numerous cases. So that has been a huge tragedy which has shaken up people to the core.”

In terms of relief measures, Anjali said, “We visited several places including Bhajanpura, Chaman Park and Shiv Vihar, and unfortunately found that there was no governance on ground. This was extremely troubling as people who had to deal with the trauma had to flee their homes because of fear of violence.”