After being repeatedly detained, allegedly beaten up by the police because they believe he was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, Murshida’s husband left the family behind and returned to his native state West Bengal four months ago. “Why should we run like this when we are Indians? What have we done to receive this treatment?” asked Murshida.

Murshida is one among many migrants from West Bengal who say they are being repeatedly detained and harassed by the police in Bengaluru.

“When he said he would leave, my seven-year-old daughter started crying, so he took her too. I have not seen my husband or daughter for months,” she said, showing a copy of the enumeration form her husband recently filled during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Karnataka. “The form indicates he is a citizen here.”

“He got the enumeration form here in Bengaluru as he has been voting here for years, while my voter ID is in Basanti town of South 24 Parganas district. Many people were scaring us that he would not get the form here because he was not a citizen. When he got the form, he immediately called home and asked for his parents’ 2002 details, filled it up and submitted it.” But even that has now become another source of fear for the family. His name and other details do not match across his documents, and he fears that these discrepancies could once again subject him to police harassment.** **

Ready with documents

Pointing to the thick file of photocopies, Murshida said, “We keep copies ready whenever they detain us. But why this treatment? What have we done?”

Murshida has been living in Bengaluru with her husband and other members of the family since 2008. She first worked as a domestic help in an apartment in Electronics City and later as a cook. Last year, after she became pregnant again, she stopped working and began relying on her husband. Now, he too has left.

“He does video calls and shows my daughter, but he is in constant fear. I request him each day to come back but he says he cannot take this kind of treatment anymore,” Murshida said.

She said the ordeal began around Eid this year, when the family returned to Bengaluru after celebrating the festival in West Bengal. Someone told the police that “Bangladeshis in large number are coming in the train” and shared a clip of migrants arriving at Majestic railway station. “After that, the police detained us and released only a few days later,” she said.

Not alone

For Mohammed Sheikh and Ameen, the story has turned even more bitter. Until last year, they used to accompany the police during drives to identify “Bangladeshis” and are now themselves termed as Bangladeshis.

“We can identify from the accent and the words who is originally from Bengal and who is not. We knew where these people lived and would be their informants. And now we are being made ‘Bangladeshi’ by the Bangladeshis themselves,” claimed Mohammed Sheikh, who works as a scrap collector in Bhoopasandra.

Mohammed added, “Police know where the Bangladeshis are, but we are their easy targets. They take us, beat us and, in many cases, leave us in the middle of the city. We find it difficult to return to where we live because we neither know the language nor know our way around the city. We do not even go around alone and mostly remain in groups at our places of work,” he said, recalling one instance when he was beaten up and left at Shantinagar.

While Mohammed is a migrant from West Bengal, Ameen, 43, was born and brought up in Bengaluru. His family has been living in Chikkaballapur for generations.

Months ago, Ameen said, he filed a petition with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) as well as the city police, giving them details of where Bangladeshi migrants live. Ever since then, instead of acting on the information, he said, the police began questioning him about how he knew them and whether he had links with them.

Police deny allegations

However, rejecting claims of harassment, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said that all arrests were made based on information received and that there was no question of wrongly framing or questioning a genuine Indian citizen.

Published - August 23, 2026 12:55 am IST