NEW DELHI, 7 May — Hindu extremists are setting humiliating terms for Muslims who want to return to their villages in Gujarat from where they had fled during the last two months following sectarian violence.

Muslims are now being told that they can come back to their homes only if they convert to Hinduism, shave off their beard and ensure that the Muslim women raped during the dragging anti-Muslim fury drop charges against their rapists, The Indian Express reported yesterday.

At some places Muslims have been told to allow Hindus free use of their vehicles but to otherwise avoid mingling with Hindus, it said.

In Randhikpur village of Dahod district, Hindus have demanded that a 22-year-old Muslim woman who has claimed that a Hindu mob killed seven of her family and raped her must withdraw charges against three men whom she named as rapists.

The Hindu villagers said the 65 Muslim residents could come back to live with them only "if the rape charges are replaced with minor offenses", Majid Ali, who attended a meet, said.The humiliating conditions come in the wake of the large-scale killing of innocent Muslims by Hindu mobs following the burning of 58 Hindu train passengers at Godhra town Feb. 27.

In Pandarwala village, where 27 people were burned to death, the Hindus have refused to let a Muslim doctor return. They suspect he used his computer to keep in touch with the Pakistani intelligence.

Said Faiz Muhammad, who attended a peace committee meeting organized by the district administration: "Our return depends on the doctor’s expulsion."

In Kadwal village in Baroda district, two Muslims families actually agreed to practice other trades, not interact with Hindus and let the Hindus freely use their vehicles, the newspaper claimed.

Former Councilor Muhammad Jafar S. Makrani told the Express that in Raichha village, 28 Muslim families have been told to convert to Hinduism if they want to return. These families are living in relief camps. In yet another village, Panwad in Baroda, Hindus say they have no conditions for Muslims — they simply don’t want Muslims to come back at all.

Some Muslims who made an attempt last week to return to Panwad to check their homes were brutally attacked in clear view of the police who refused to come to their help.

Referring to one grievously wounded Muslim who was left for dead, head constable Jaswantsinh Chavda at the Panwad police outpost said: "Had I not reached there they would have killed him. They (Hindus) don’t want Muslims back. It is good if they (Muslims) don’t come back. So far they haven’t lost lives. Now they will."

In some villages, messages have appeared as graffiti that threatens Muslims with rapes of their wives and daughters if they return. Said Baroda District Collector Bhagyesh Jha: "We are aware of these conditions. We have told the people, please don’t do this, sit down and talk it out. There is little that we can do, this has to be sorted out at the community level."