The Haryana police have allegedly detained 26 Bengali-speaking people from Assam in Gurugram since Sunday morning on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, according to eyewitnesses and residents of the area.
The residents alleged that 21 men were picked up from Gurugram’s Sector 103 on Sunday, while five others were rounded up from the same spot on Monday. The residents claimed that five detainees were released later in the day, and they boarded trains back to their home towns in Assam. However, the remaining 21 men are still in detention, they said.
When reached for comment, the Haryana police did not respond.
Over the past few days, police in several States, including Odisha, Assam, Haryana, and Delhi, have been accused of illegally detaining Bengali-speaking migrant workers on suspicion of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and harassing them.
“Around 11.30 a.m. on Sunday, I saw the 21 men, who work as rag-pickers, being picked up by policemen dressed in civvies,” claimed Anwar Hussain, 45, who lives a block away from the spot in Sector 103 from where the men were allegedly rounded up.
“When the men said that they are Indian citizens, the officers asked for their documents. Before any of them could go back to their rooms to fetch the ID cards, the police bundled them into vans and took them away,” alleged Mr. Hussain, who works as a garbage collector and claims to be from Assam.
Another person from the locality, who did not wish to be named, alleged that five more persons were picked up around 9 a.m. on Monday. “Later in the day, five persons were released by the police. All of them went straight to a railway station in Delhi to board a train for Assam,” the resident said.
Published – July 15, 2025 01:26 am IST
