NEW DELHI: The death toll during communal violence in the Indian capital city Delhi Friday evening rose to 42, officials said, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.
Over 350 people were also injured in the violence that ravaged the city for three days.
“As per records available at different hospitals, the death toll by now is 42,” an official said.
“Besides this, the number of injured in the violence is over 350.”
Police officials Friday said the situation was under control but the personnel were still deployed in the affected areas.
The violence left a trail of damage in the north-eastern parts of the city as torched vehicles, vandalised shops and burnt buildings present a scary look.
Delhi police has come under fierce criticism for its apparent inaction.
“A total of 123 First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered and around 630 people detained. Senior police officers’ deployment will remain the same as Saturday. Things are getting normal, distress calls have drastically gone down,” Delhi Police Public Relation Officer M S Randhawa told the media.
Unrelenting communal violence broke out in the north-eastern part of the city following which mobs armed with sticks and rods resorted to arson, looting and vandalism.
Many people, especially Muslims, have left their homes in the affected areas and took shelter in other safer locations.
The clashes broke out between pro- and anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) groups in the north-eastern part of the city on Sunday and took an ugly turn on Monday and Tuesday.
Protests against the controversial new citizenship law triggered on December 11 last year, the day India’s upper house of parliament passed the law. Since then there has been no let-up in the protests.
The law aims at granting citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions — Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and Christianity – from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, it has kept out Muslim immigrants from applying for citizenship.
So far, the violence against the law has killed over 70 people across India. – Bernama
