WARNING: This story contains depictions of sexual assault that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

"I'm scared for my nephew, I'm scared for my family," said Zafar Shamim.

Gurpreet Singh says he was threatened while giving a talk criticizing the Indian government's Citizenship Amendment Act at the University of British Columbia.

It's a setback for the party as it faces massive anti-government protests against a contentious new citizenship law.

The protest, led by Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, comes at a time when tens and thousands of demonstrators have taken to India's streets to call for the revocation of the law, which critics say is the latest effort by Modi's government to marginalize the country's 200 million Muslims.

Twenty-three people have been killed nationwide since the law was passed in Parliament earlier this month in protests that represent the first major roadblock for Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda since his party’s landslide re-election last spring.

Police fired tear gas Tuesday in the Seelampur area of New Delhi to push back protesters who swarmed to barricades and threw stones Protests were also reported in the states of West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka and elsewhere.

Thousands of university students flooded the streets of India's capital, while a southern state government led a march and demonstrators held a silent protest in the northeast on Monday to protest a new law giving citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India illegally to flee religious persecution in several neighbouring countries.

The air quality index exceeded 400, considered "severe'' and about eight times the recommended maximum.

With strong winds blowing away pollutants, the air quality index at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi read 155 as compared to 500 over the weekend that was 10 times the recommended WHO level.