Human rights activists have accused the Delhi Police of illegally detaining and torturing a group of Bengali-speaking Muslim migrant workers—some as young as six years old—during a raid on a brick factory in Haryana’s Jhajjar district on June 25.
The raid was carried out by personnel from the Shalimar Bagh Police Station in Delhi. According to activists, seven workers, all originally from West Bengal, were picked up from the site and falsely labelled as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
Family members say the police initially claimed it was a routine document check, but the men were taken away without explanation. Ajima, the wife of one detainee, said the police seized mobile phones and money and denied the detainees access to food, medical care, and legal aid.
Prominent West Bengal-based activist Kirity Roy has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging that the workers were tortured in custody. He shared disturbing details, including that one victim, Jahirul Mia, was beaten with blunt objects on his palms and feet before being released in a severely weakened state. Roy says women and children are still being held.
Roy added that the detainees are Indian citizens who had been officially repatriated from former Bangladeshi enclaves after the 2015 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). The LBA granted Indian citizenship to nearly 14,000 people from exchanged territories. “These are Indian citizens who were promised rehabilitation but never received it. Now they are being treated like foreigners,” Roy said.
Despite repeated efforts by activists to contact Delhi Police, there has been no official response.
