Activists have alleged that a team of Delhi Police raided a factory where several Muslim migrant workers were working in a brick factory, arrested them, and subjected them to torture on false allegations that they were illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
On June 25, Delhi Police—specifically Shalimar Bagh Police Station—arrested seven people from a brick house in Haryana’s Jhajjar. However, activists have claimed that all seven persons were Bangla-speaking Muslim migrant workers. Minors as young as 11 years old and 6 years old were also detained.
In this regard, a letter was also addressed to the National Human Rights Commission demanding that the people, including women and children, be released.
Speaking to Maktoob, Ajima, wife of one of the arrested individuals, said that the police reached the brick factory where her husband, along with others, was working. “The Delhi police told them that it is here to just verify some documents after which they would be released. However, the moment they were taken to a police station and detained there,” she said.
All the workers hail from West Bengal and had migrated to Haryana for work.
Ajima said that they usually go to work in brick factories for six months.
“I stay back to take care of my children,” she added.
Kirity Roy, an activist based in West Bengal, spoke to Maktoob and said that the individuals were part of a group of people who were repatriated from erstwhile Indian enclaves in Bangladesh in 2015, following a historic agreement between the Governments of India and Bangladesh.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.