BENGALURU: A group of three independent researchers, including one from Swaraj Abhiyan, visited the West Bengal migrants’ settlement in Kundalahalli recently where 20-year-old Basheer-ul-Sheikh and two others were assaulted for more than seven hours in August last year, for the alleged theft of a length of wire from a pump house. Sheikh was even electrocuted to death.
The report has found that the migrants are still living in fear. The report stated, “The process of evicting the families from the settlement has been by accusing the men of possessing ganja. Arrests are being made by men in plainclothes in the middle of the night. Police do not give any arrest warrant and neither do they disclose where the men are being kept.”
“Two men were arrested a month ago and police have demanded money from their wives. Many alleged that they had to shift from the previous location they were living in because they were eyewitnesses to Sheikh’s murder,” the report said.
Police said,”Recently, we had arrested a few Bangladeshi immigrants who were staying there because we had found packets of drugs. We are not intentionally doing any raids on them. The allegations that police officers in plainclothes harass them at night and that we demand bribes are false,” police inspector at Marathahalli police station said.
“In Sheikh’s case, we have submitted the chargesheet and the trial is going on. The prime accused in the case, Vasudeva Reddy, was out on bail a week after his arrest,” police said.The team of researchers comprising Dr Sylvia Karpagam, public health researcher, Hansika Singh, independent researcher, and Kaleemullah R, State Coordination committee member, Swaraj Abhiyan, visited the migrants on September 10.
“The area we visited has about 50 houses. They have all migrated from West Bengal to Bengaluru over the last 8 years. The families collectively pay `1 lakh per month for rent, electricity and water to someone who claims to own the land. His men come and collect the money but they are not aware of the name of the owner and neither do they have any kind of paperwork or records,” Dr Sylvia Karpagam said.
“Hardly any of the families have local address proof. Their Aadhaar cards have addresses of their hometowns. This makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation, harassment, arrests, false charges, evictions,” the report added.