Shaheen Bagh Stir: Infant Dies Due to Cold, Mother to Return to Protest

Four-year-old Mohammed Jahan died in his sleep on January 30 after his mother came back with him from the protest site. His mother had been taking him to Shaheen Bagh since December 18, three days after the protests began.

New Delhi: In a tragic development, a four-month-old boy, whose mother used to take him to the site of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest at Shaheen Bagh, died after he acquired a severe cold and congestion following exposure to the winter chill at the protest site, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) has reported.

The boy, Mohammed Jahan, died in his sleep on January 30 after his mother came back with him from the protest site. However, the mother will return to protest to ‘fight for the future of her children,’ PTI reported.

The child’s parents, who hail from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, live in a tiny shanty in the Batla House area and have two other children: a five-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. His mother had been taking him to Shaheen Bagh since December 18, three days after the protests began.

According to PTI, the family didn’t realise that the child’s congestion was so severe. However, the death certificate issued by the hospital does not mention any specific reason for the boy’s death.

Recently, a 57-year-old woman protesting at a similar anti-CAA protest in Kolkata’s Park Circus died after complaining of breathlessness. Labelled as ‘Kolkata’s Shaheen Bagh,’ the protest there began on January 7.

The Shaheen Bagh protests completed 50 days on February 2. However, in recent days, it has been taken up as a major issue by the BJP for the upcoming Delhi Assembly Election. A host of top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath etc. have targeted the protesters, urging Delhi to vote against ‘anarchists.’