CAA panic: 2 Women mistaken for CAA-NRC surveyors attacked

Two women mistaken by the public for people conducting surveys for Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens were attacked in Rajasthan and West Bengal on Wednesday, according to report in TheTimes of India

Nazeeran Bano, from National Economic Census Department was collecting data for the National Economic census 2019-2020 in Bhrijdham area in Kota, Rajasthan. Bano was attacked by the public and was let off only after she was able to convince them that, she was Muslim and conducting economic survey.

The angry crowd wanted Bano to prove she was Muslim by reciting a verse from Quran and was conciliated only after she showed them an “Ayat Al-Kursi (The throne verse) card,” a report by TOI stated.

Later, Police has arrested a person for the attack.

The woman’s mobile phone was snatched and all the data she had collected for the economic census on an App was deleted, Borekhera SHO Mahesh Singh told TOI.

Nazeeran Bano was quoted by the Times of India as saying, "I explained them that the data collected was related to the economic census and had been uploaded on the portal, and that there was nothing wrong in it. But they were not convinced and started misbehaving with me."

“Residents in the Brijdham area initially provided all the required data for but later 4-5 families called her back and asked her to to delete the data saying they did not want any information about the family to be shared,” said Bano.

20-year-old Chumki khatun in Bribhum, West Bengal, working for Google India and Tata Trusts’ digital literacy initiative for rural women, internet, Saathi, was also targeted by the local villagers who suspected she was collecting data for NRC.

Chumki’s house in Gourbazar village was put on fire and she and her family were coerced to take refuge at the local police station. No one has been arrested for this incident.