Fifty-year-old Vibhuti Narain Rai is a senior police officer, editor of the Hindu magazine Vertman Sahitya and a novelist. A few years ago the National Police Academy of Hyderabad granted him a Fellowship to study communal prejudice in our police force. His findings shook everyone. After examining Hindu-Muslim riots in different parts of the country, he proved by statistics that deep anti-Muslim prejudices exist in our police force; that  well over 75 per cent of the loss of life and property was always suffered by the Muslims (in some places 90 per cent) and yet many more Muslims were arrested and their homes searched than Hindus. Nevertneless the myth that Muslims start riots and cause mayhem persists. Personally I was heartened to read Rai's report: it was an honest expose of true facts and it was written by a Hindu scholar castigating his own service and his community. Such courage is rare and deserves to be commended.

Rai has had to deal with many Hindu-Muslim riots including one not long ago in a suburb of Allahabad between poor Muslim beedi-makers and comparatively better-off Hindu neighbours. He used his first-hand knowledge to write a novel Shahar Mein Kurfew. It was reprinted three times and serialised in some Hindi and Urdu journals ... Ashok Singhal, Secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, called for a ban on the book and threatened to burn down cinemas that screened the film (based on it). The novel has been translated into English by C.M. Naim, Professor of Urdu in Chicago University: Curfew in the City (Roli books).

Curfew in the City is a powerful novella (109 pages) It is an eye-opener which will disturb the reader's conscience ..

... As long as we have men like him to tell the bitter truth, there is hope that our country will overcome communal hatred and emerge as a truly secular society -ot only naam kay vaastey ...

(Source: The Nation and the World, 1 January, 2000)