It was past midnight on July 26 when a group of Gujarat police personnel in plainclothes reportedly broke into the rented accommodation of a group of Bengal’s migrant workers and began mercilessly thrashing them, shouting: “All of you are Bangladeshi!”
“We were so tired that it took us a few minutes to even understand what was happening. They started kicking and slapping us when we asked what we had done wrong,” said Sandip Maji, a 19-year-old migrant worker from Keleyara village in East Midnapore’s Pingla.
Twelve migrant workers, all aged between 19 and 35, had just arrived in Surat, Gujarat, to work as packaging staff for a company providing services to an e-commerce platform. They were asleep after an exhausting two-day train journey from Pingla when the Gujarat police conducted the raid.
The West Midnapore police and administration eventually ensured the safe return of all 12 youths, of whom 10 were from Pingla and the remaining two from the Sabang police station area of the district.
According to the migrant workers, the cops in plainclothes dragged them by their hair and collars and shoved them into a vehicle before taking them to a police station.
They couldn’t recall the name of the station.
“The real torture began after we were taken into the police lock-up,” said Buddhadeb Barik, a 25-year-old father of two, lifting his black T-shirt to show a visible boot mark.
“One after another, policemen began interrogating us and beating us brutally. Some came in with long batons. Cops without batons kicked, slapped and pulled us by our hair,” Barik said.
Barik’s claims were corroborated by Sandip Maji and his cousin Ganesh Maji, who were held in the same lock-up.
According to them, each time they tried to explain that they were residents of West Midnapore in Bengal, not Bangladeshis, the police demanded they confess to having illegally infiltrated India from Bangladesh.
“Though our Hindi wasn’t fluent, we tried our best to beg them to verify our details with our families,” said Barik who had experience of working in other states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
“After being beaten repeatedly, we eventually gave up,” he added.
Speaking from his tin-roofed home in Maligram village, he added that they were repeatedly threatened with imminent deportation to Bangladesh.
“Our bags, documents and money were all in the rented house where we took shelter,” said Ganesh, the youngest member of the group. “We begged the police to let us retrieve our phones and documents, but no one listened.”
It was only the next day that one of their mobile phones was returned, allowing them to contact their families and ask for documents to prove their Indian citizenship.
“A family member of one of the workers first reported the matter to us at Pingla. Once we received the information, we immediately contacted our counterparts in Surat and sent all relevant documents to prove their identity,” said Dhritiman Sarkar, superintendent of police of West Midnapore. “They were released around midnight on July 27.”
Family members also contacted the Bengal government’s helpline.
This was the first time the workers had travelled to Gujarat, though they had worked in other states.
The workers had gone to Gujarat expecting to earn Rs 450 per day. Still traumatised, they now said they would never again migrate for work, even if offered “₹20,000 per day”.
“We’d rather eat salt and rice and skip dinner. But we will not send our sons to other states again,” said Minu Barik, Barik’s mother. “We request the Bengal government to provide them jobs here.”
West Midnapore district magistrate Khursheed Ali Qadri said that his administration is actively exploring employment options for the 12 youths.
“Our officials have met with them and assured them of government support. They will soon receive job cards under the Karmashree scheme. We are identifying additional local employment opportunities for them,” said Qadri.
Workers said they were willing to accept lower wages if they got stable employment in Bengal.