Death Toll in India Reaches 700; Bombay Quiet
The death toll neared 800 in violence that continued to sweep India on Wednesday, but Bombay was relatively calm as strikes immobilized the turmoil-racked city.
Most of those killed in four days of violence across India are Muslims who have been shot by police, with hundreds of thousands of other Muslims bearing the brunt of curfews.
While many of the police shootings have been provoked by mobs of Muslims attacking Hindu businesses or demonstrating in violation of curfews, many others appeared to be either unprovoked or overreactions to protest marches, according to witnesses.
Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh said Wednesday that “sometimes there has been overreaction” by the police but added, “To say that is the major problem is not fair.”
The bloodshed was sparked by Sunday’s destruction of a controversial 16th-Century mosque by Hindu extremists in Ayodhya.
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