Family members of the migrant worker who had alleged harassment and torture by the Delhi police on Wednesday returned to West Bengal and held a press conference in Kolkata claiming that they were referred as ‘Bangladeshis’ and asked to pay ₹25,000 by the men posing as police personnel.
Sanjur Parveen and other members of the family who hails from Chanchal in Malda district of West Bengal held a press conference at the Trinamool Congress party office in Kolkata and said that the personnel of Delhi police asked her to chant “Jai Shri Ram.
Several leaders of Trinamool Congress including chairperson of West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board Samirul Islam, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh and, State’s Minister Firhad Hakim, Rajya Sabha MP Mausam Noor were among the leaders who were present at the press conference.
“Four people came to our house and they introduced themselves as police. They wanted to see our Aadhaar cards. They referred to us as Bangladeshis and said that we should not leave the area. We told them that we are not Bangladeshi but Indians,” Ms. Parveen said.
She added that the next day four others came with two women and tried to take my child away. “There I was asked to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’. I said, I am a Muslim. I cannot say that. After that, they demanded ₹25,000 from me,” Ms. Parveen said. The Malda resident added that she along with her child were assaulted.
The press conference by the family of migrant workers assumes significance as the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on July 27 shared a 46-second video on social media and accused Delhi police of brutally beating up a kid and his mother, who are members of a migrant family from Malda’s Chanchal.
The Delhi police said that the video shared by the Chief Minister about migrant workers alleging harassment in the national capital was fabricated. DCP(East) Abhishek Dhania, the Delhi Police officer, said the woman, identified as Sanjanu Parveen, made the video at the request of his relative, who lives in the Malda district of West Bengal and is a political worker. After the Delhi police statement, the West Bengal Chief Minister on Tuesday doubled down on her assertion on Tuesday and urged the family to return to the State.
Reacting to the press conference of the migrant workers family, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that the Trinamool Congress should lodge a complaint against the Delhi police.
The contending claims come at a time when hundreds of migrant workers from West Bengal have alleged harassment and torture at the hands of police on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals in different States including Delhi.
In a related development, the Trinamool Congress claimed that 300 migrant workers have returned to the State from Haryana.
“300 migrant workers, men and women, were forced to flee Haryana and return to Bengal to escape @BJP4India‘s xenophobic witch-hunt. @NayabSainiBJP’s police raided their homes, called them “Bangladeshi”, threw them in detent ion, and brutalised them despite valid documents proving their Indian citizenship,” the Trinamool Congress tweeted.
The West Bengal’s ruling party described the BJP government as a “fascist regime weaponizing state power to humiliate Bengalis”. “@BJP4India will pay for every baton blow, every racial slur, every illegal detention. The countdown to their downfall has begun, and Bengal will lead the charge,” the party added.
Published – July 31, 2025 04:12 am IST
