Guwahati, July 24: A delegation from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Thursday secured the release of 95 Assamese migrant workers detained by Haryana Police on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi nationals. The detainees were arrested in Gurugram’s Sector 103 earlier this week despite allegedly possessing valid Indian identity documents.
The AIUDF delegation, led by party general secretary and MLA Aminul Islam, along with Hafiz Rafikul Islam, Nizanur Rahman, and other party officials, travelled to Haryana to provide legal assistance to the detainees and facilitate their release.
“These people had gone to Haryana for work, most of them from Barpeta and Mankachar districts,” Islam told reporters. “They were picked up on baseless suspicions, even though many of them have Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, and are listed in the NRC. This is a clear example of harassment of Indian citizens.”
The released workers have since boarded trains back to their hometowns in Assam. According to the AIUDF, over 100 Bengali-speaking individuals from Assam had been detained in Gurugram starting Sunday. Many of those arrested were employed in low-income jobs and had migrated to the area in search of work.
The AIUDF delegation also held discussions with both the Haryana Police and the Assam government to coordinate verification of the detained individuals’ identities and to ensure that due legal process is followed. Islam said the party would continue to offer legal support to all affected workers and insisted that the rights of Indian citizens must not be violated based on language or religion.
On Friday, the delegation is scheduled to visit Faridabad, where another 35 individuals from Assam have reportedly been detained under similar circumstances.
“We’ve asked the Haryana administration to release those with valid documents immediately and to explain the grounds of their arrests,” Islam said. “There is a growing trend of profiling and targeting linguistic and religious minorities, especially when they migrate for livelihood. This needs to stop.”
AIUDF has demanded a thorough investigation into the arrests and urged both state and central authorities to take steps to prevent arbitrary detention and harassment of Indian workers in other states.
