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How Muslim women adapted after riots
By Suvojit Bagchi
BBC News, Godhra, Gujarat



These women were left to fend for themselves


Twenty three-year-old Firoza Sheikh has recently been elected to the local municipality in Saonli, a small town in the Godhra district of Gujarat.

Though it is not uncommon for women to fight elections at every level in India, what is unusual is Ms Sheikh's background - she spent the first 18 years of her life in the confines of a conservative Muslim household.

"I never did anything, just a brief nursing course," she says.

But that was before the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002

In the aftermath of the riots, most Muslim men either went into hiding or were arrested and the womenfolk were left to fend for themselves.

"The riots left us with no option but to step out of the house," Ms Sheikh says.

Rewarded

She started working in a temporary shelter for riot victims and spent most of her time counselling children who had lost their parents.

After the riots ended and the shelter was closed down, she took up the issue of displaced women.

For her work, Ms Sheikh has been rewarded with various scholarships and the biggest boost came last year, when she was elected to the local municipality.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6399551.stm