A 27-year-old woman and her minor daughter from West Bengal’s Hooghly district are in critical condition after an alleged suicide attempt reportedly triggered by fear over not receiving a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) enumeration form. The incident occurred on Saturday at the family’s residence in Dhaniakhali, with relatives claiming that anxiety over documentation and fears of deportation pushed the woman to consume poison along with her child.

Both remain in the ICU of Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital, according to police, who have initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the alleged attempt. The woman’s father said she became increasingly distressed after realising that while other members of the household had received SIR forms, she had not. Believing her lack of documents would lead to deportation, she reportedly panicked and took the extreme step.

Family members noted that she had been living at her parental home for six years following a marital dispute and had shown signs of deep mental stress in recent days.

The incident quickly took on political overtones. Dhaniakhali Trinamool Congress MLA Asima Patra accused the BJP of instilling fear among residents through comments related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and detention camps. Patra claimed that similar panic-induced incidents had occurred recently in Dankuni and reiterated her party’s stance that the BJP was “playing with people’s lives.”

The Trinamool Congress, in a post on X, shared images of party leaders visiting the families of two individuals who allegedly died by suicide in Sainthia (Birbhum) and Bhangar (South 24 Parganas), reportedly driven by similar anxieties related to documentation and citizenship. The party criticised the BJP, citing remarks by the Union Home Minister about “detect, delete and deport,” and argued that such rhetoric had created an atmosphere of fear in the state.

According to the TMC, citizens of Bengal—who have lived in the region for generations—are being subjected to “a humiliating test of citizenship in their own homeland,” resulting in rising anxiety and, in some cases, tragic loss of life.

Police continue to investigate the Dhaniakhali incident, while the woman and her daughter remain under intensive medical care.