NEW DELHI, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in Delhi's communal violence against a new citizenship law rose to 32 on Thursday, health officials said, with over 200 people injured.
While 30 deaths have been confirmed at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, the other two deaths were reported at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital.
"The death toll now at this hospital is 30," Dr. Sunil Kumar, medical director of Guru Teg Bahadur hospital said.
The dead include a policeman and a junior-level official from the Intelligence Bureau.
Local media said arson and unrest emerged from northeast Delhi's Bhajanpura, Maujpur and Karawal Nagar areas late on Wednesday, hours after country's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited violence-affected areas to offer personal guarantees on the restoration of peace.
India's main opposition Congress party has demanded the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah and blamed him for the violence.
The unrelenting communal violence broke out in the northeastern part of the city, following which mobs armed with sticks and rods resorted to arson, looting and vandalism.
Reports said many people especially Muslims were leaving their homes in the affected areas and taking shelter in safer places.
The clashes broke out between pro- and anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) groups in the northeastern part of the city on Sunday and took an ugly turn on Monday and Tuesday.
Protests against the controversial new citizenship law were triggered on Dec. 11, 2019, the day India's upper house of parliament passed the law, and there has been no let-up in the protests since then.
The law aims at granting citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions, namely Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and Christianity from countries including 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 60 people across India.
