[Marxistindia] Letter to Amit Shah

[news from the cpi(m)]

July 11, 2025

Press Release

 

Smt. Brinda Karat, Special Invitee, Central Committee of the Communist Party
of India (Marxist), and former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, has
written the following letter along with Shri. Anurag Saxena, Member, Central
Committee and Secretary, Delhi State Committee, of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist), today to Shri. Amit Shah, Union Minister for Home Affairs,
regarding the blatant violation of human rights, harassment and extortion,
in the ongoing process of "identification of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants"
by the Delhi police and other agencies.

We are herewith releasing the text of the letter for publication.

 

 

(Muralidharan)

For CPI(M) Central Committee office

 

 

 

Shri Amit Shah ji,

 

                    This is to draw your attention to the ongoing process of
"identification of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants" by the Delhi police and
several other agencies under directions from the Home Ministry. We have
received several complaints of harassment of genuine citizens of India on
grounds that they speak Bengali. On July 10, 2025, we along with a team of
leaders of the CPI(M) from Delhi visited Bawana JJ colony in Delhi and met
several of the complainants. We were shocked to find blatant violation of
minimum human rights, harassment and in some cases, corruption amounting to
extortion. We give below some examples:

 

1.    Md Nizamuddin, from Godda district, Jharkhand had migrated to Delhi
several decades ago. Both he and his wife have family connections in
Jharkhand. He was allotted a plot by DDA in 2004 in Bawana JJ colony and
presently resides there. On July 5, a team of police personnel from the
local thana went to his house and accused him of helping a Bangladeshi to
get illegal papers. He explained to the police that the tenant was staying
there three years ago and he has no contact and had no idea of the person's
whereabouts. On July 6, the police came back at around 6 am and they
handcuffed Nizamuddin and in full public view, as though he is a hardened
criminal, literally dragged him to the thana. This time they accused him of
being a Bangladeshi. His 28 year old daughter Shabnam followed him to the
thana and produced all the documents including the property the family owned
in Jharkhand. However, the police beat Nizamuddin abusing him in filthy
language asking him to confess that he gave shelter to a Bangladeshi and or
else he would be declared a Bangladeshi. The police picked up his entire
family including an 11 year old and an 8 year old, abusing them all the
time. They were released at 1 am. Again the next day on July 8, at 6 am they
were taken to Vijay Vihar police station. Here again they were harassed.
Their photographs were repeatedly taken including the photographs of the
young women of the family. It is to be noted that no senior officer was
present during this period and some junior personnel, including someone from
the SHO's office were doing the interrogation, threatening, abusing and
intimidating. After some time they were released. However in the next few
days, teams of police from different thanas have been going to their house
demanding to see their papers. They were told that all their photographs
have been uploaded on a police site and therefore they should expect such
police inquiries. This case is a clear example of the lawless behaviour of
the police to harass law abiding citizens of India. This family's
reputation, particularly those of the young women, have been shredded by the
repeated visits of the police. All such photos should be deleted from police
records as the family are bonafide Indian citizens who have committed no
crime. Also action should be taken against those who beat Nizamuddin in
custody.

 

2.    Sajan Saudagar Das who lives in the jhuggi settlement in Bawana C
block was picked up by the police on May 6. He was taken to Pritampura thana
and was badly beaten there by two policemen who abused him saying that he
should confess that he is a Bangladeshi. When he pleaded with them, they hit
him with lathis, threw him on the ground and kicked him on his ears with
their boots. One ear was badly injured. Another police officer checked his
mobile phone and then said that he was picked up "by mistake." They later
told him they had got "information" that he was speaking in Bengali and so
they picked him up. This is another clear case of human rights violation.

 

3.    We met three aged women from 60 years to 70 years who were brought to
India from Bangladesh by their parents decades ago when they were children.
Their parents have died years ago. These women have married in India, their
children have been born and educated here and have their own families. All
three of them are widows. They were picked up by the police and taken to the
police chowki in Sector 5 where they were kept for three days and nights.
All their documents were taken away from them. They were produced before an
officer in RK Puram, their bio-metrics taken and then they were sent back to
their jhuggis. Here too police from different thanas are going to their
jhuggis to question them. They have lived in India for decades and their
children are Indian citizens by birth. They have no families in Bangladesh.
They live in terror every day that they will be forcibly deported. This
treatment to such poor, vulnerable single women is inhumane and unjust. 

 

4.    Similar instances are there from other places in Delhi. For example in
May, in Vivekanand Camp, Chankayapuri, the police took away all ID papers of
Bengalis living in the area. It was also reported that police personnel were
demanding money to return the papers. When some responsible social activists
inquired into this and met the police, the senior officer said he had not
given any such orders. Later, the papers were returned. In two other
instances, the Crime Branch personnel from Kamla Nagar and Malviya Nagar
picked up two citizens of India, who are Bengali Muslims and kept them in
custody. They had proof of their birth and home in West Bengal, yet they
were harassed. This happened on June 24th.

 

5.    On June 26, in a shocking incident, eight Bengali migrant workers
living and working in Delhi were forcibly sent to Bangladesh despite having
proof of their residence in Paika village in Birbhum district, West Bengal.
Among them were a woman and a 5-year-old child. What would be their plight
in Bangladesh? Now their family members in Paika village are forced to
undertake the expensive and difficult task of approaching the courts for
justice. 


The process of identification of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in the
capital of India is an example of violation of minimum human rights. In the
process, genuine Indian citizens are being targeted on grounds of language
and religion. Is it now a crime in India to speak Bengali? Further, are all
Bengali speaking Muslim citizens of India to be treated as criminals and
illegal immigrants? We would like to remind you that 26 per cent of the
population of West Bengal are Bengali speaking Muslims. Also, there are
international norms for deportation of illegal immigrants. The present
methods of identification in Delhi violate all such norms. 

 

We hope you will consider these issues and intervene to restore human
rights, humane behaviour of the law enforcement agencies and adequately
compensate the victims for their losses.

 

Thanking you,

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Brinda Karat

(Special Invitee, CC & Ex-MP)
Anurag Saxena 

 
(Delhi State Secretary & Member, CC)

 

 

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