Mukta, who has worked as a cook in housing societies for over a decade and lives in Gurugram with her husband, said she had not slept for nights, “I woke up at the slightest noise.” Every sound now carries weight—it could mean the arrival of the police. “We are living in constant fear. How are Aadhaar cards and PAN cards not proof anymore?” she asked.
“We are not wealthy enough to own land documents. Is that our fault?” she asked, calling the crackdown a targeted attack on Muslims. “I am not against the deportation of undocumented Bangladeshis, but there is a process—check the documents, follow the procedure. We have valid papers, but they refuse to even look at them. They go straight to beating the detained."
Under the grey skies of Gurugram’s Sector 49 Bengali Market stands a jhuggi colony. This small patch of land, once home to over 500 daily wage Bengali workers — both Hindus and Muslims — now stands nearly deserted.
Over the course of the past 10 days, hundreds of Bengali migrant workers were detained by authorities on suspicion of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, as part of an ongoing verification drive locating and deporting foreign nationals.
Each identical one-room residence in Bengali market was marked by a door, a desert cooler wedged into a window, a small washbasin doubling as a multipurpose washing area and cycles parked just outside.
The men were employed as sanitation workers, dog-walkers and caretakers while women as domestic help in bungalows and societies. Families claim they possess valid documentation, including Aadhaar, PAN, ration cards, and voter IDs, still detained by the police.
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