Bengal Woman's House Set On Fire Following Rumours Of She Being NRC 'Data Collector'

The house of a 20-year-old woman was allegedly set on fire by a mob in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Wednesday, following rumours that she was collecting data for the proposed nationwide NRC. Chumki Khatun and her family are now under police protection after the incident happened in Gourbazar village in Mallarpur police station area, officials said.

However, police denied that the incident was linked to the NRC.

Khatun has been working for an NGO on contract. In partnership with an online firm, the NGO was training rural women to use smartphones effectively and Khatun collected some general data, as part of the training, local sources said.

Rampurhat's sub-divisional police officer Soumajit Barua said, "We didn't find any link to the NRC. The incident happened over some village matter. We have initiated an investigation, the situation is now under control."