No docu enough: Bengalis recount ‘detention' horror
Traumatised, some have started returning homes, while others have stayed back in Odisha after cops asked them to report to the local police station once a week.
Of those who stayed back are Newton and Amanat Ansari, picked up by Odisha Police at 3 am on July 8, along with three others. They were held for being "suspected Bangladeshis" and confined in a club. Only a fortnight back, on June 21, the duo had gone to Jharsuguda as construction labourers.
Speaking to TOI, Newton said: "In camps, police tortured and thrashed those who tried to take pictures on their phones or went live on social media.
Cops told us not to leave the area for two weeks."
"Not all of us had phones with us, and only a few could speak to their families. The four days in detention were terrible. We showed EPICs, Aadhaar, ration card, but police asked for documents from 1971. We were released on Friday night but have been asked to stay back and report to the local thana once a week," said Amanat.
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The duo's relatives had to submit undertakings to local police stations, saying they were not Bangladeshis, and had no links with any banned organisation.
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Nadia resident Md Ziaul Haq Sk said the cops looked certain that the Bengali migrant workers were Bangladeshis. "I spent four days at a college hostel, heavily guarded by armed police. There were times when cops forced us to stay in the balcony overnight. Not a morsel of rice to eat, not a phone to speak to our families...
the days were full of fear. Police didn't seem to be convinced with any document." Ziaul has had to stay back in Jharsuguda.
His phone is still with the cops.
Debashis Das, a migrant worker from Hooghly's Chinsurah, returned home on Saturday. A specialist in developing fire fighting systems, Das was working at a construction site in Odisha. "I have worked across several states, including Odisha, in 14 different projects.
Never have I faced this," he said.
Asked to show documents, Das showed all papers that can be expected of a citizen. In fact, even more. He had passport, Aadhaar card, PAN card, EPIC, birth certificate, secondary school certificate, and police verification certificate with him. But for Odisha cops, this wasn't enough. Das was detained, and his phone confiscated. He was barred from contacting his family or his contractor.
Das's mother Bibha was close to tears as she spoke to TOI. "I thought I would not get my son back. We did not know what to do... Now, with what assurance will I send my son to work again?"
"It was my son today, it will happen to others next. This can't continue," she said.
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