CAA protests: Doctors to give medical attention to protesters

New Delhi : A group of doctors are travelling to the sites in Delhi where protests against the amended citizenship act are going on in order to give immediate medical attention to any injured protester.

Ajay Verma, a psychiatrist at AIIMS, said he had seen how the protesters were denied medical attention when they were taken to the Daryaganj Police Station.

"To ensure that no such instance is repeated, we have arranged for two ambulances which we take to all the protest sites and provide medical attention to anyone who needs it," Verma said. He said they are a group of 30 doctors who are working through crowdfunding, trying to provide medical aid to the protestors in Delhi.

People have been demanding complete rollback of the amended citizenship act since the controversial bill was passed in Parliament. According to the act, people from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come to India till December 31, 2014, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious persecution will be given Indian citizenship.

The protesters claim that the legislation is "unconstitutional and divisive" as it excludes Muslims. At least 16 people have been killed in violence in Uttar Pradesh alone during anti-CAA protests since Thursday.

They also claimed that several protesters were not given timely medical attention in Delhi when they were detained by the police.