75-yr-old dies 2 days after SIR hearing, family blames ‘stress’
Times of India | 13 January 2026
Kolkata: A 75-year-old woman from Baduria in North 24 Parganas died on Monday after suffering a cerebral attack on Jan 7, with her family alleging that her death was due to severe mental stress over SIR hearing.
Anita Biswas, a resident of Shimulta Durgapur, was summoned to the Baduria BDO office on Jan 5 after her name was found missing from the 2002 SIR list. She suffered a stroke on Jan 7, two days after attending the hearing, and later died at Basirhat District Hospital.
Her son, Kashinath Biswas, said she had been a voter since 1995. "Yet, she was the only one in our family whose name did not appear in the 2002 voters' list. During the hearing, she could not properly answer some of the questions asked by officials, which made her extremely anxious. After returning home, she kept saying she would be sent to jail. We tried to reassure her, but she suffered a stroke on Jan 7," he said.
"She had all the necessary documents but became extremely anxious. She already had a heart condition and the additional mental pressure proved fatal," said Anita's daughter Soma Haldar.
Local Trinamool netas, who met Anita's kin, said BJP's "politics of suspicion and intimidation" had crossed all moral limits and accused the EC of harassment.