On July 23, several poor Bengali Muslims residing in a resettlement colony in South Delhi were picked up by the police in the middle of the night, detained in police custody for nearly 12 hours in the most humiliating conditions, threatened with deportation and eventually released after extorting a large sum of money from them. Correspondents of People's Voice who spoke to the victims learnt that this was a routine affair and is part of the systematic campaign of the state against poor Bengali Muslims, who are labelled as “Bangladeshi immigrants”, “terrorists” and forced to live constantly under threat of arrest and harassment by the police (See box).

The reality behind the Indian state’s campaign against “Bangladeshi immigrants”

The Indian state has been carrying on incessant propaganda portraying “Bangladeshi immigrants”, claimed to be numbering between 20 to 30 million, as the “biggest threat to national security” and a “breeding ground for subversive and terrorist activities”.  Political parties have harped on this theme time and again to consolidate their vote banks, while governments at the centre and in the states have often taken up this propaganda to justify harassment of poor Bengali Muslims. Following incidents of terrorist bomb blasts and attacks, the harassment of these people increases manifold and many innocent youth are detained and tortured without any evidence. Through all this, an atmosphere is sought to be created where people are made to believe that these poor Bengali Muslims are the source of all the problems, and the attention of people is diverted from the real source of their problems, i.e. the exploitative rule of the big capitalist class and the Indian state that defends its interests.  India shares a border of over 6000 km with Bangladesh, which has a relatively poorer economy. Consequently, there has been an influx of poor and destitute economic refugees from Bangladesh to India, many of them dating back to the creation of Bangladesh. However, there is no demographic data to accurately ascertain their number and the claim of 20 to 30 million is likely to be an exaggeration. The crackdown on Bangladeshi immigrants was officially started in 1993 when the government announced Operation Pushback to identify, round up, and deport all such people from the country. However, the Bangladesh government was not ready to own these people. So deportation effectively meant leaving people in no-mans-land with the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) aiming their guns at them from one side and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) from the other. More than a decade later, the intensity and magnitude of such attacks has intensified and become a part of the official campaign of the Indian state.

The drive against poor Bengali Muslims in Delhi

Starting from Operation Push Back in 1993, thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims have been picked up from various working class settlements all over Delhi and forcibly pushed inside Bangladesh, without establishing whether they actually came from Bangladesh or not. Many recent examples from various parts of Delhi have revealed that Indian citizens from West Bengal and Assam, working as rag pickers in Delhi, are routinely arrested on the charge of being ‘illegal immigrants’.

A study conducted by Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, Bal Vikas Dhara, Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan, Aman Trust, and Hazards Centre in 2004 reveals the shocking modus operandi in such cases and the blatant violation of human rights of innocent working citizens, who have no hope or means of defence.

Identification

The Action Plan drawn up in May 1993 by the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, for the deportation of illegal migrants, vests the local police with the job of detection and identification of illegal migrants.  The local police undertakes this task through a network of local informers, often from within the communities that are targeted, who provide information about suspected illegal migrants. These informers wield considerable clout in the locality and all Bengali-speaking Muslims are required to always meet the informers demands – for money or otherwise. If they fail to do so, they could be deported. The police rely solely and absolutely on the informers’ word. There is no scrutiny or enquiry undertaken when documentary proof is submitted, of authoritative documents issued by agencies of Delhi Government or the Union Government, such as ration card, election card, school certificate, affidavit from the village panchayat, certificates from the MLA or MP.  In many cases, these documents are torn up by the state authorities, on the specious grounds that they are false and fabricated. Only documents showing proof of ownership of land are admissible, which not only poor Bengali Muslims but most poor working people in the slums in Delhi do not possess.

The raids are conducted in the form of swoops on the so-called illegal migrants in the dead of night and rounding up of men, women and children from their bastis. People are not even given enough time to get dressed properly or collect their documents. Very often minors caught in the raid are forced to face the situation alone, without being re-united with their families. The police do not secure any corroborative evidence and the detainees are threatened and beaten if they request a hearing. The SHO and ACP routinely sign these cases. The whole operation is open to bribery, right from the informer to the local police officer and the SHO. It has been reported that huge sums of money are extorted from the victims, who are then set free for some time, until the next raid. Those who cannot pay this money suffer the worse fate.

The Foreigners Regional Registration Office

As per the Action Plan, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO)/civil authority acts as the coordinating agency and is empowered to scrutinise the proposals for deportation and satisfy itself of their illegal status by providing the concerned person with a hearing. The reality is that while the police vans with the alleged illegal migrants wait in the compound of the FRRO office at Rama Krishna Puram, their papers are taken in and duly signed by the FRRO, and a Leave India Notice issued under the Foreigners Act. A senior police officer, of the rank of DCP, discharges the duty of the FRRO in Delhi, so the violation of rights of the victims is amply clear.

Place of detention

Those arrested on suspicion of being Bangladeshis are detained in a night shelter or rain baseraa, and a baraat ghar (wedding hall), which have been occupied by the task force and converted into a place of detention. Here they are forced to stay in horrible conditions, with woefully inadequate basic amenities such as toilets and blankets. Their relatives are not allowed to visit them. They have to perform odd jobs for the policemen such as washing their motorcycles, cleaning the toilets, sweeping the floor, etc. They are humiliated and subjected to physical torture.

Deportation

When there are sufficient number of detainees to fill a railway bogie, they are taken to the Old Delhi Railway Station and put on a train. They are taken in police custody to Malda in West Bengal, where they are taken to a Border Security Force (BSF) camp. Their money and other possessions are taken away, along with any evidence that may point to their Indian origin. In blatant violation of diplomatic protocol, the detainees are released in batches, in the middle of the night, and forced to cross the border into No-Mans Land, regardless of the weather and the terrain (jungle or river). They are warned that if they turn back they will be shot as infiltrators. If caught on the other side, they are in danger of being fired upon by the Bangladesh Rifles personnel at any time. If they survive, they have no choice but to illegally cross back again and continue the same miserable existence.

The quota system

Following a High Court order, the Home Ministry formulated a further Action Plan on May 1, 2002, according to which the Delhi Police Commissioner is required to set up 10 Task Forces to identify the illegal migrants. Each Task Force is assigned a quota of identifying 100 illegal migrants daily. Every alternate day at least 50-70 persons are to be sent by train from Delhi to Howrah for deportation. This Task Force functions under a Monitoring Cell, in the Home Department of the GNCTD, and reports to a high powered Nodal Authority constituted by the Home Ministry. This Nodal Authority, in turn, is required to submit monthly reports to the Delhi High Court. This target quota system has obviously given rise to rampant corruption and coercion by the local police.

Denial of justice

The Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) 1983 (IMDT) Act, requires constitution of Tribunals, composed of judicial officers, to determine whether a person is an illegal migrant or not. But till date the IMDT Act has not been extended to Delhi. By creating an atmosphere in which giving basic human rights and following proper legal procedures is seen as an impediment to the ‘fight against terrorism’, the Bengali Muslims, many of whom are poor rag-pickers living in slums, are denied any recourse within the existing legal and judicial system.

Thus it is amply clear that the shrill cries repeated by various political parties from time to time, to throw out Bangladeshi immigrants, has nothing to do with providing security to people, as is made out. Instead, it is yet another means by which the persecution and violation of rights of poor people is carried out. The working class and people of Delhi, as in the rest of India, have to come forward and demand an end to this systematic targeting of Bengali Muslims and this brutal attack on our brethren.