The death toll from clashes that broke out in the Indian capital of New Delhi during demonstrations against the country's citizenship law amendments has risen to 42, doctors from Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital said on Friday, adding that about 300 people had been injured
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2020) The death toll from clashes that broke out in the Indian capital of New Delhi during demonstrations against the country's citizenship law amendments has risen to 42, doctors from Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital said on Friday, adding that about 300 people had been injured.
Earlier reports indicated that at least 34 people had been killed since the clashes started on Monday, while over 250 others had been injured. Following clashes in several districts, New Delhi authorities imposed a curfew in the riot-affected areas and urged the national government to send in troops to restore peace.
India has plunged into the ongoing violent protests since last December, after the national parliament passed a bill amending the 1955 citizenship law. The modified document envisages fast-tracking citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who had fled from neighboring Muslim countries before December 2014. However, given that Muslims themselves were not covered by the law, it triggered a strong backlash among the Indian Muslim community members who said that the amendments violated the constitution by oppressing a group of citizens in a formally secular country on religious grounds.
