The West Bengal government demanded immediate release of more than 400 people detained in Jharsugud, Odisha, on suspicion of Odisha being an illegal Bangladesh migrant, on Wednesday, Odisha police said the verification process is going on and the people who submit the necessary valid documents will be issued.
The West Bengal government has said that the people detained are including Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda and Purba Medinipur from various districts of West Bengal.
More than 200 people were custody in a new round of raids in Jharsugud on Monday. So far, 444 people have been detained and placed at two holding centers in the district on suspicion of being illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
“The verification process is being carefully conducted by senior authorities through a joint investigation team, to ensure that no Indian citizen is wrongly detained or harassed, to ensure that every attempt to maintain the rights of Indian citizens is allowed to return to their place.”
Defending the custody of the people, the senior official said that individuals were lacking a valid documents to establish their identity or citizenship, requiring a complete verification process to find out their identity.
“This process is not about targeting any community or region, but about maintaining the rule of law and ensuring the security of our nation,” Lal said, “the practice is to protect national interest and security, so that cannot be compromised”.
According to the Odisha police, those detained are being conducted in the specified features “with” adequate food, water, hygiene, and medical care “, and to correspond to human standards”.
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The BJP government in Odisha has also asked all the districts to identify people who are unable to detect, identify and deport those who are unable to show evidence of citizenship.
Meanwhile, sources in the West Bengal government said that in Jharsuguda, the police conducted raids in colonies and settlements in the hours of July 7, where Bengali migrant workers live.
“Police arrived and took them away. Many were taken into custody. They were taken to the local police station. Despite providing documents such as residence in West Bengal, the police did not move and sent them to the centers,” Kabir Sheikh said, who lives in a migrant colony in Jharsuguda and sells plastic goods.
Sheikh, who lives from Murshidabad, said he was lucky because he was outside the colony during the detention drive.
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The families of 13 migrant laborers of Birbham, who were detained in Odisha, presented residential documents along with the local police station, demanded their release. “We want them to come back soon. They have been working outside the state for years. It has never happened,” said Hazimuddin Sheikh, a resident of Kutulpur village in Birbham.
Last week, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant wrote a letter to his Odisha counterpart in custody of Bengali speaking migrant workers, stating that it was “deeply upset”. Looking for a stop on harassment in front of the people of Bengal, he wrote: “Whatever is related to, even when these individuals produce legitimate identity documents … In many examples, they are being asked to produce ancestral land records for many generations, an improper and unfair demand for migrant workers,” he said.
It falls on the heels of uniform detention in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh-All BJP ruled states.
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