The Kolkata Police on Sunday said that a woman who was protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and proposed National Register of Citizens at the Park Circus Maidan died after falling ill, PTI reported.
The woman was identified as 57-year-old Sameeda Khatun from Entally area of the city. She fell unconscious around 2 am on Saturday and was taken to a nearby hospital, police said.
Khatun was an asthmatic patient and died after suffering a cardiac arrest, protestors told The Indian Express. “Sameeda Khatun was a regular face at the protest and she was not well as she had asthma,” Nousheen Baba Khan, who has been spearheading the protest, said.
Khan said she had complained to him about having difficulty in breathing. “We immediately took her to Chittaranjan Hospital where doctors said she had suffered a cardiac arrest,” he added. “We later took her to Islamia Hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.”
The continuous sit-in at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi has become the model for the protests against the amended law. Around 250 women from Kolkata have been peacefully protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens since January 7 at Park Circus Maidan. The law has been widely criticised as discriminatory and Indian Muslims fear it could be used with the NRC to harass and disenfranchise them.
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