The ordeal began in October 2024, when Shahjahan Banu Khosro, Saniya’s mother, purchased a house in Gomtipur for Rs 15.5 lakh from Suman Sonavde, a Hindu neighbour. Payment was fully made by December, but before the formal handover, Sonavde’s husband passed away.

When the mourning period ended, instead of transferring the property, the Sonavde family allegedly refused to vacate the house. Suman’s son Dinesh Sonavde and other family members began harassing the Ansaris, citing Gujarat’s Disturbed Areas Act to threaten the nullification of the transaction.

The Wire reported that Sonavde’s son began threatening the family and said he would nullify the deal, citing the Disturbed Areas Act. What was supposed to be a legal transaction turned into a communal and legal quagmire.

Law as a weapon for communal discrimination: The Disturbed Areas Act

The Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act, originally enacted in 1986 and strengthened in 1991 and 2019, was introduced to prevent distress sales of properties in riot-prone or communally sensitive areas. It mandates prior approval from the district collector for inter-religious property transactions.

But reality shows, in practice, serves as a tool to block Muslims from moving into Hindu-majority areas, thereby reinforcing ghettoisation and communal segregation.

Kaleem Siddiqui, a social activist monitoring the case, told The Wire, “Instead of protecting vulnerable families, the law is weaponised to deny them agency. It tells Muslims: you may have the money, but you cannot choose where to live.”

Background

On August 7, the conflict turned violent. Members of the Sonavde family allegedly barged into the Ansaris’ home and attacked them. Saniya was dragged by her hair and beaten. Her brother, Mohammad Hussain, sustained head injuries, and Saniya was left badly bruised.

Despite CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts, police initially filed a case against only one person—Manav Sonavde, who was granted bail the very next day.

“Saniya killed herself waiting for someone to save us, help us,” said her sister Rifat Jahan to The Wire

Two days later, Saniya left behind a suicide note naming four individuals, stating that they took her family’s money without giving them the house and had tormented them for months.

“Mere ghar mein inki wajah se 10 mahine se koi khushi nahi, sirf rona dhona aur ladaai (Because of them, there has been no joy in my house for the last 10 months, only tears and fighting)”, Saniya wrote.

Delayed justice and police apathy

The family alleged that local police refused to file an FIR despite the suicide note and video evidence. Officers initially termed the death “accidental” and insisted on forensic verification of the note. According to The Wire, it was only after intervention by Police Commissioner G.S. Malik that a case of abetment to suicide and other charges were filed against six individuals. However, many critical facts—including the months-long harassment and physical assaults—were left out.

Advocate Satyesha Leuva, the family’s lawyer, said, “Even getting the police to register an FIR was a struggle for us. The initial FIR mentioned the suicide, but not the months of harassment or the brutal beating.”

The aftermath: Silence and protest

Since the FIR, the Sonavde family has gone missing, reportedly absconding. Meanwhile, Saniya’s case has become a rallying point for civil rights activists and Muslim families across Gujarat.

Prasad Chacko, national secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, told The Wire, “The young girl who was forced into suicide is yet another victim of the Hindutva supremacist elements that terrorised a Muslim family that engaged in a legitimate transaction of buying a house.”

Systemic discrimination and ghettoisation

For civil society organisations like the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), Saniya’s death is not an isolated tragedy—it is a symptom of structural marginalisation.

MCC convener Mujahid Nafees stated: “The Disturbed Areas Act has become a big weapon for them. They don’t care about society or the social fabric. The incident that happened in Ahmedabad is a dark picture of this Act.” He added, “This law deepens marginalisation and ghettoisation. It tells Muslims they are not welcome in certain neighbourhoods, regardless of their rights or resources.”

Today, the Ansari family still lives across from the house they paid for but never received. In the last 10 months, they have lost Rs 15.5 lakh, their trust in the law, and their daughter. “We kept going to the police, but they said the law is not on our side. We have been feeling helpless and hopeless,” Rifat said, as reported

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The incident took place on July 17, 2023 after which it had led to the arrests of three people which included two minors. The accused were charged with spitting on Mahakal ki Sawari, a Hindu religious procession which was reportedly passing by their residence. The arrests were reportedly made on the basis of a complaint filed by one Sawan Lot who alleged that Adnan and the two other minors had offended religious sentiments by spitting on the procession. Lot claimed to have submitted videos of the incident as evidence. However, during the court proceedings, the witnesses, including Lot and his friend Ajay Khatri, have decried the claims made in the FIR. Furthermore, Lot has stated in a written statement to the judicial magistrate, that he was misquoted by the police who he claims coerced him into signing papers about which he had no clue. Lot further stated that he was unaware of what was written in the FIR. Ajay Khatri, the other key witness has been claiming that he was one of 40-50 individuals taken to the police station where he signed papers without knowledge of their contents. He also similarly stated that he did not witness the incident and could not identify the accused. A report by the NewsLaundry has noted that both Khatri and Lot are associated with the BJP.

Furthermore, according to news reports, after the arrest last year the authorities in Ujjain had gone forth and reportedly demolished the three-story home owned by Ashraf Hussain Mansoori, the father of the Adnan. Therefore, the house was demolished and was subjected to a disturbing display of cheers and drumbeats from a crowd which had gathered to witness the demolition. The demolition rendered Mansoori’s family, as well as several of those families who rented in the building, homeless. The building and the ground floor shop also served as the family’s sole source of livelihood. The family is now forced to make ends meet after the demolition.

Meanwhile, a report by NewsLaundry attests that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is not happy with the witnesses turning hostile in the case and has expressed its dissatisfaction with the proceedings.

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