29 February 2012 Last updated at 01:10

India's Gujarat riots: 10 years on

Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg society , that was attacked during the 2002 Gujarat riots, stands deserted on 21 February 2012.

The February 2002 riots in Gujarat were one of the worst outbreaks of religious violence in modern India. In one incident, dozens of Muslims living in a residential complex in the city of Ahmedabad were killed. Award-winning photographer Arko Datta, who covered the killings at the Gulbarg Society, revisits the ghost neighbourhood 10 years later.

Once, the colony was the pride of the Muslims of Ahmedabad. Its residents were affluent, educated and respected.

The cluster of 29 bungalows and 10 small apartment blocks were ransacked and torched by mobs. They have been sitting empty for the last 10 years. The people who once lived there are afraid to return.

Nearly 70 Muslims, including a former member of the Indian parliament who lived in the complex, were killed in the violence. Thirty five people have been accused in the case. Ten years later, the victims of Gulbarg Society still await justice.

"While there are no inhabitants and all the rooms are empty, the burnt walls silently remind us of the gruesome killings they have witnessed," says Datta.

Many locals call Gulbarg the "ghost bungalows". Once a thriving residential colony, it is now strewn with debris and overgrown vegetation. Cows and stray dogs have free run of the place.

"The empty rooms, the burnt walls, the open doors silently echo the sounds they have heard," says Datta.

"The silence was deafening," says Datta.

In Pictures

India's Gujarat riots: 10 years on

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