Guwahati (Web Desk): The death toll from violent protests in northeast India against a contentious citizenship law has risen to six, officials said on Sunday.
Tension remained high at the epicentre of the unrest in Assam state’s biggest city, Guwahati, with a fresh demonstration expected Sunday over the legislation even as some shops opened amid an easing of the curfew during the day.
The legislation, passed by the national parliament on Wednesday, allows New Delhi to grant citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants who entered India from three neighbouring countries on or before December 31, 2014 – but not if they are Muslim.
In Assam, three people died in hospital after being shot, while another died when a shop he was sleeping in was set on fire and a fifth after he was beaten up during a protest, officials said.
Train services were also suspended in some parts of the east on Sunday after violence in eastern West Bengal state, with demonstrators torching trains and buses.
