Death toll rises in rioting
AT LEAST 25 people have been killed in rioting in New Delhi over a new law that fast-tracks Indian nationality for certain people, but not Muslims, in what is said to be the deadliest violence in the capital in decades.
The clashes broke out on Sunday but peaked on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump landed in the city to hold talks with India’s leaders.
Confrontations between supporters and opponents of the controversial law soon developed into violent attacks by sparring Hindu and Muslim communities in pockets of north-east Delhi, areas with a large Muslim population.
Around 200 wounded people were brought to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, the main hospital in the region, doctors said yesterday.
Hospital superintendent Sunil Kumar Gautam confirmed deaths from injuries including “gunshots, stabbings and jumping from heights to escape rioters”. A person injured in riots died at another hospital.
The new law expedites citizenship for religious minorities from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries, but excludes Muslims from the list. Its critics say it discriminates against India’s Muslim minority.
In his first public comments on the violence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed yesterday for “peace and brotherhood”.
He chaired a high-level security meet to discuss steps to rein in the violence. “Police and other agencies are working on the ground to ensure peace and normalcy,” he said.
Top police and security officials said the law-and-order situation was returning to normal yesterday as additional police forces were on the ground and “peace meetings” were being organised between community representatives and religious leaders.
“The situation is totally under control. People are satisfied. I have confidence in law enforcement agencies,” said India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval, who undertook a tour to
Reuters the affected-areas, met locals and gave them assurances of peace.
But troubled parts of north-east Delhi continued to simmer. Armed police were carrying out patrols in violence-hit areas that have been placed under curfew.
Yesterday, there were stray incidents of arson and stone-throwing. The dead in the clashes included youths from the Hindu and Muslim communities. There were also reports of Muslim homes and shops being targeted by violent mobs.
Police have been criticised for their alleged inaction when the violence unfolded and for deploying inadequate forces on the ground, a charge which officials denied. A spokesperson said 106 locals had been arrested for rioting and their role in clashes.