Sheikh Mohammed Rafik is a Muslim soft drink seller living in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
He tells that they came to demolish his house in the early hours of the morning.
Refik, 72, who works hard with his sons as sales increase after Iftar in Ramadan, says he woke up on Monday morning when the police came to his door after going to bed late.
Refik, who sees hundreds of police officers and bulldozers outside when he opens the door, lives in the Muslim quarter of Khargone.
All that’s left of his house is a big pile of rubble.
“We were so scared we couldn’t say a word, we watched the destruction in silence,” he says.
This old man isn’t the only house demolished. A number of other Muslim homes and shops have suffered the same fate since April 10 in Madhya Pradesh.
The demolitions followed violence between Muslims and Hindus in Madhya Pradesh during the Hindu festival Ram Navami on April 10.
The houses and shops of Muslims, who are accused of throwing stones at Hindus, are targeted by the authorities.
Social media is flooded with videos of yellow bulldozers breaking into Muslim neighborhoods and families crying around their destroyed homes.
200 million Muslims
The demolitions provoked a great reaction.
In India, where 1 billion 380 million people live, the population of the Muslim minority is approximately 200 million.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP party are often criticized for discriminating against the Muslim minority.
“If the Muslims attack, then they should not say they want justice,” said Narottam Mishra, Interior Minister of the BJP-held state administration in Madhya Pradesh.
Critics of the government say that demolitions, which have a “collective punishment” policy, cannot be legally defended.
The conflict on April 10 began when Hindus, who staged Eid parades in the streets, played loud and humiliating music as they walked past the city’s Muslim neighborhoods and mosques.
Later, it was reported that Muslim and Hindu youths threw stones at each other in some parts of the city.
However, Muslims say that Hindus attacked them and the police did not intervene.
“The houses where those who throw stones live will also turn into a pile of stones,” said Mishra, Minister of Interior of the province.
Authorities underline that unauthorized residences built on public land are targeted as the legal basis for the demolition penalty.
Zoning law
However, Sheikh Mohammed Refik said that neither he nor the other Muslims in his neighborhood were involved in the violence.
Saying that he can prove with documents that his house did not violate the zoning laws, Refik says, “Despite this, the police showed up at my door one morning and destroyed my house without listening to me.”
Law enforcement says the homeowners were warned before the demolition, but the BBC spoke to at least three Muslim families who said the bulldozers showed up without any paperwork.