All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday condemned the detention of Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens across the country, labelling them as “illegal” while accusing the police administration of “targeting” them since they couldn’t challenge “police atrocities.”
He said that those being labelled as illegal immigrants are “the poorest of the poor,” who are mostly slum-dwellers and work as domestic workers and rag-pickers. Owaisi argued that they were being targeted repeatedly because they couldn’t challenge “police atrocities.”
He stated that there have been reports of Indian citizens being pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint.
“Police in different parts of India have been illegally detaining Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens and accusing them of being Bangladeshi. There have been disturbing reports of Indian citizens being pushed into Bangladesh at gunpoint.
This government acts strong with the weak and weak with the strong. Most of those who are accused of being ‘illegal immigrants’ are the poorest of the poor: slum-dwellers, cleaners, domestic workers, rag-pickers, etc. They have been targeted repeatedly because they are not in a position to challenge police atrocities,” the AIMIM chief posted on X.
“Police do not have the power to detain people just because they speak a particular language. These wide-net detentions are illegal,” Owaisi added as he shared an image of an order of the Office of District Magistrate in Gurugram on his X account, where it has been mentioned that the state government has made a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deport Bangladeshi citizens and Rohingyas.
