On 6 December 1992, following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India, communal riots broke out in several parts of the country. Mumbai witnessed a horrific bout of communal riots in the months between December 1992 and January 1993, which saw enormous violence against Muslim minorities in the city. This violence was accompanied by the Hindu right-wing political party Shiv Sena's attempts to reconfigure the city as a sacred Hindu space. According to official statistics, the death toll exceeded 800, and 1,50,000 residents, mostly Muslims, left the city. About 100, 000 Muslim refugees took shelter in camps constructed in neighbourhoods that were predominantly populated by Muslims in central Mumbai. The role of the police in the riots was widely criticised by civil society actors and later by an investigating committee as they were accused of being mute spectators and at times active participants in the excessive violence against Muslims, especially in the city's slums. The riots transformed the social geography of Mumbai drastically. Mumbai was a city with a high proportion of ethnically mixed neighbourhoods with the Muslim population spread across the city. After the riots, the Muslim population became far more concentrated in central Mumbai and in slums in north Mumbai. This violent spatial reorganisation of the city because of a concerted attack against Muslim minorities catapulted several Muslim women into the public sphere. They were involved in the rehabilitation of riot victims. Subsequently, they began participating in several initiatives that spoke to concerns of gender justice within the family and ultimately became a part of a project for addressing gender equality in the domain of Muslim family law.