Sting Newz Service: The death toll in Delhi communal violence rose to 27 on Wednesday, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged that the situation has become “alarming” and the Army should be called in as police was “unable to control it”. The number of injured has crossed 200.
Twenty-seven deaths were reported from the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital. Many of the injured admitted in GTB were reported to be critical.
Communal violence over the amended citizenship law escalated in northeast Delhi on Tuesday as police struggled to check the rioters who ran amok on streets, burning and looting shops, pelting stones and thrashing people.
Media reports said, many Muslims were abandoning their homes in areas hit by the violence. Their houses, shops and places of worship have been reduced to ashes. In the Panchwa Pusta neighborhood, several witnesses said police officers had shielded rioters, fired at Muslims crowds and failed to act when rioters set a mosque on fire. Many Muslims have accused the police of standing passively by while their homes and business were attacked by Hindus. Only Muslims were targeted in the violence by Hindus.
Muslims say the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu supremacist agenda and is against the country’s secular ethos.
BBC Hindi Correspondent Faisal Mohammed wrote in website that A small crowd of around a dozen people is standing outside a vandalised mosque in Ashok Nagar, one of the areas worst affected by the violence.
The front of the green and white building is scorched. An Indian flag and a saffron flag, commonly associated with right-wing Hindu groups, are flying from one of the minarets.
