![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/07\/AJ1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Gurugram: Men in Gurugram\u2019s \u2018Holding Centres\u2019 say they are detained just for speaking Bengali.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, on July 19, Hafizur Sheikh (41) had finished his shift as a cleaner outside a store in Gurugram when he was stopped by policemen and interrogated. Sheikh answered all their questions, but then he was asked to produce his identity cards to verify his citizenship.<\/p>\n
Despite having an Aadhaar card, a voter ID card and other identity documents on his phone, he was told that this was not enough. \u201cThe police wanted a physical copy,\u201d his brother Amanur told The Wire. \u201cMy brother told them that he could bring the physical copy or they could accompany him to check the documents personally, but they did not listen and he was detained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hafizur Sheikh, from West Bengal\u2019s Nadia district, is among hundreds of mostly Muslim migrants detained by the police in Haryana\u2019s Gurugram. These men usually work as cleaners or domestic workers, and delivery agents in Gurugram.<\/p>\n
On July 19, police detained at least 74 migrant workers \u2013 11 from West Bengal and 63 from Assam \u2013 who they suspect are undocumented foreign nationals from neighbouring Bangladesh. They were taken to what the police are calling \u201cholding centres\u201d \u2013 that rights activists say are akin to detention camps. \u201cThis camp [in Sector 10, Gurugram],\u201d said advocate and Communist Party of India (Marxist\u2013Leninist) member Supanta Sinha, \u201chas over 200 detainees.\u201d<\/p>\n
On July 21, a two-member CPI-ML team visited one of the makeshift detention camps in Gurugram\u2019s Sector 10 after they received \u201cnews of detention of scores of migrant workers purportedly for ascertaining their citizenship.\u201d Sinha was a part of that team. He said that the workers were being forced to live under inhumane conditions. A CPI-ML statement said \u201csimilar exercises have been conducted in other parts of Gurgaon as well, with some zones housing over 200 detainees currently\u201d.<\/p>\n
These detentions appear to follow a Ministry of Home Affairs directive, said Sinha. They come in the backdrop of a nationwide drive against alleged undocumented foreign nationals. However, multiple reports show that Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants from West Bengal and Assam are facing the brunt of these drives.<\/p>\n
When asked about the charges under which the migrants are being detained, Gurugram Police PRO Sandeep Kumar said, \u201cThey are not detained. As per the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), certain holding centres have been created, and suspected Bangladeshis are being kept there. All basic necessities, including medical facilities, are being provided to them at the centres.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wire visited a neighbourhood in Gurugram\u2019s Khatola village, known for its large Assamese Muslim population. On one side of the road stand tall, eye-catching multi-storey buildings housing corporate offices like that of American Express, while on the other side lies a slum cluster housing Assamese migrants who work as cleaners in these offices.<\/p>\n
Residents claimed that nearly 2,000 people used to live in the area. However, when The Wire visited, the colony was almost entirely deserted. Only around 10-12 women were present, who were about to visit their husbands and other male relatives currently held in detention centres.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we leave while our husbands and other relatives are rotting in detention centres? Who knows what the police will do to them?\u201d said Rohima, when asked why she had stayed behind when most others had fled. The women claimed that on July 19, police detained over 40 men from the area. Among those detained was Rohima\u2019s husband, Nazrul Islam Mondal.<\/p>\n
Rohima says Mondal was detained by the police despite having almost every document, even his name is in the National Register of Citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the day my husband was taken away, I haven\u2019t been able to eat. My 12-year-old daughter hasn\u2019t been to school because her father was the one who used to drop her off,\u201d said Sayra Bano, whose husband Rokibuz Husain is also among those detained. Both Sayra and her husband work as domestic workers.<\/p>\n
When asked if they plan to continue living in the area after their husbands are released, most of the women said they would leave once their family members return. \u201cWho can live in such an environment, constantly under threat?\u201d said a woman accompanying Bano.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gurugram: Men in Gurugram\u2019s \u2018Holding Centres\u2019 say they are detained just for speaking Bengali. According to Kashmir Media Service, on July 19, Hafizur Sheikh (41) had finished his shift as a cleaner outside a store in Gurugram when he was stopped by policemen and interrogated. Sheikh answered all their questions, but then he was asked …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":179840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}