Police come every few days, check same documents: Slum dwellers in Delhi after drive to detect illegal Bangladeshi immigrants

On Thursday, the police held a verification drive in Sangam Vihar’s Block F  — home to a large number of Bengali migrants who live in five slums — to check whether any illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are living in the area. According to the police, the documents of the residents would be deemed verified after their concerned panchayats confirm their personal details.

This comes on a day when the Delhi Police said that it has deported one Bangladeshi national and detained another for overstaying illegally in West Delhi after the expiry of their visas. The two, Sajal Mia and Mohammad Ali, resided at Punjabi Bagh.

“They were apprehended after a tip-off was received by the Madipur police post under the Punjabi Bagh police station. Both were apprehended subsequently. Following due procedure, one was deported while the other was sent to a detention centre,” DCP (West District) Vichitra Veer said.

At Block F in Sangam Vihar, as had been the case in the past, police checked the slum residents’ Aadhaar cards, voter IDs and PAN card details. However, this time, they also asked residents to show bank passbooks and requested them to open social media apps, UPI apps and call logs on their phones.

“We have to check from where they are getting money and whom they are sending it to… We are also checking social media apps to see if they are following any Bangladeshi pages or calling any Bangladeshi numbers,” said a police officer.

Most of the women living in the slums work as domestic help, while the men engage in picking waste. Among the residents, there is equal parts annoyance and resignation.

The elderly aunt of Arifa (27) lives in Bangladesh and has not been keeping well. “I call her every day. The police saw that I was calling a Bangladeshi number frequently and took my husband, Khorshed, to the police station for questioning,” she said. Arifa claimed her family had migrated to India a long time ago and had settled in West Bengal’s Nadia district. However, a few of her relatives stayed back in Bangladesh.

Shahjamal Alsana (29), another resident, said, “If you show them the documents, they say we have made duplicates. If we don’t show up for verification, they tell us we were hiding… People who actually are living here illegally don’t live in jhuggis and do kabadi work. They live in high-rises.”

The police, however, said such drives have become stringent since a syndicate facilitating illegal immigration of Bangladeshi nationals was busted in January. “The syndicate would smuggle people in through the Meghalaya border,” said DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan.

He added that the current drive will specifically target newly set up slums in Sangam Vihar, Ambedkar Nagar, Neb Sarai and Tigri.

Police also conducted a similar verification drive in Mandir Marg on Thursday. DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Mahla said the drive will continue on Friday.