When she returned to Delhi this month after a three-month sabbatical from work, Maria Bilal could not find a house to rent. "It was like the city I lived in for 13 years did not want me anymore. It's the place where I made friends, found my identity and built a life from scratch, but it felt so alien," said the 36-year-old communications professional, who has spent all her working life in Delhi.
Since the Lajpat Nagar house she last lived in was no longer available, Maria contacted brokers, who showed her other houses in Lajpat Nagar as well as Jangpura, Vivek Vihar and Noida. But when it came to signing the agreement, she hit a wall every time.
Brokers returned with the same reply – the owner does not want to give the house to a Kashmiri Muslim, said Maria, who landed in Delhi on Nov 11, a day after the terror attack near Red Fort that was executed by a module of radicalised doctors from J&K.
Maria said she furnished her professional credentials and told prospective landlords she had worked with the central govt, hoping it would make them trust her. "But they just could not let go of their doubts," she said.
It's a feeling many Kashmiris have voiced publicly and privately in the aftermath of the Delhi terror plot. So much so that J&K CM Omar Abdullah stepped in with a public reminder that actions of a "handful of people should not define the vast majority of peace-loving residents of J&K".
"Not every Kashmiri is on the side of terrorists. It is only a handful of people who have tried to disturb the peace and harmony here," the CM said last week.
Bilal went through three brokers. "One of them was embarrassed to tell me that the homeowner did not want a Muslim tenant, so he kept delaying the meeting but after getting rejected by so many owners, I knew exactly what was happening," said Maria, who eventually found one house, "but the owner asked for Rs 20,000 more than the market rate".
She has now returned to Srinagar, a move she hopes is "temporary" because her life is here in Delhi.
Omar Peerzada, who works as a management consultant in Gurgaon, said it's anyway hard for Muslims to rent houses in Delhi-NCR and it's only going to get tougher now. Omar moved to an upscale society in Gurgaon – "where no one cared about my religion" – after struggling with house-hunting in Delhi. "But it has lately become difficult for me to afford my house in Gurgaon. I thought I could shift somewhere cheaper but people don't want to give their houses to Kashmiri Muslim tenants," he said.
Omar said he tried searching for an apartment in Noida and Ghaziabad but came up against all kinds of RWA rules. "Somewhere, they don't want a single man, somewhere they don't want meat eaters. So, for now, I have no choice but to put up with the expenses and continue living in Gurgaon," he said.
Neeraj Sahgal, a property dealer in Delhi, agreed some find it more difficult to get a house. "But not every homeowner cares about the tenant's religion. Even I have faced issues with prospective tenants getting rejected because the owner does not want to give their house to a Muslim, but there are also people who don't care about these things," said Sahgal, adding he feels bad when religion is the reason why people are denied homes.
A Jangpura-based broker said he had seen many Kashmiris Muslims get rejected as prospective tenants, even before Nov 10. "In some cases, even Kashmiri owners are not ready to rent out their homes to other Kashmiris who they don't know. Some of my male clients, especially, have had a lot of trouble finding a house," he said.
Sadiq Mir, an entrepreneur, said it took him three months of house hunting in Delhi in 2023 before he eventually found one after reaching out through family circles. "It is such an alienating feeling," he said.
(Some names have been changed on request)
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