On July 16, Rabiul Khan (40) and his family sat down to have lunch at their home in the Badshahpur slum in Gurgaon’s Sector 66 when the police showed up — and picked him up.
“They took my phone… I could only use it for a few seconds to tell my wife where I was… they checked all my ID proofs. I told them I am from Malda in West Bengal, but they said you are Bangladeshi,” said Khan.
He was eventually released from a ‘holding centre’ at Sector 40 on the evening of July 23, where his wife, Chavi Bibi (39), had been waiting.
Khan was among several men who were rounded up by the Gurgaon Police as part of a ‘routine verification’ drive to identify Bangladeshis and Rohingya living illegally in the city. The move sparked panic among the Bengali-speaking migrant community, prompting many to leave the city.
Sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree near the Shamshan Ghat on Friday, Khan spoke about his ordeal. “They demanded that I reveal the identities of my Bangladeshi neighbours. I was slapped twice…,” he alleged.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
