Guwahati: At least four students were killed and 50 injured when police opened fire on rampaging protesters who tried to stop updating of the National Register of Citizens in Assam's Barpeta town on Wednesday.
Trouble erupted when a group of All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) activists pelted stones and set ablaze a building in the premises of the deputy commissioner's office in a bid to stop updating of NRC work in progress there.
Police opened fire when they failed to disperse them using teargas shells, said Barpeta SP Debojyoti Mukherjee. He said three students died on the spot, while another succumbed to injuries at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
The students thereafter went berserk and tried to attack shops and business establishments but police brought the situation under control, he said. The injured were admitted to the Barpeta Civil Hospital and those with serious injuries were sent to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital.
The NRC is being updated to identify and enlist Indian citizens in the state. In March, the Assam Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to update the NRC of 1951 by taking 1971 electoral roll as the basis.
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