The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal has been linked to three fatalities in the districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia, and Birbhum. Reported on Monday, the deaths include two suicides and one heart attack, all occurring shortly after families received summons for voter list hearings.
In the Hingalganj area, 62-year-old Choyed Sheikh collapsed from a heart attack, which his daughter attributed to the stress of SIR notices. In Nadia’s Karimpur, Fijur Khan took his own life, reportedly fearing that his wife might be deported due to errors in her documentation. The third victim, Johnny Sheikh from Rampurhat, Birbhum, committed suicide in his room. His family claimed that the atmosphere of fear created by numerous SIR notices in their ward led to his decision. Government officials have clarified that SIR is a standard administrative task aimed at correcting logical inconsistencies in the voter list and should not be a cause for panic.