The small community of Rohingya refugees in the city is living in fear after some of their men were allegedly abducted for ransom and one of them is yet to be traced.
Six Rohingya refugees were kidnapped on November 1 from a slum in Kempapura, a northeastern suburb of Bangalore under Amruthahalli police station, where 150 of them from 42 families live and work as rag-pickers.
A gang of “illegal Bangladeshi migrants” is suspected to be behind the abductions, according to the Rohingya refugees. The FIR names Hilal and six others without mentioning their nationality. None of the accused has been arrested yet.
In a letter to the UN high commissioner for refugees, the Law and Policy Research Institute, a city-based advocacy for human rights, has named Hilal, Masoom, Javed, Ali, Farooq, Kukan and an unidentified person as the attackers.
The accused allegedly also assaulted five women, one of them pregnant, who tried to resist their men being taken away. The FIR has booked the assailants for outraging the modesty of women, wrongful confinement, assault and extortion.
While five of the victims returned after their families paid Rs 40,000 to the kidnappers, one of them named Dil Mohammed, 24, was yet to be traced.
Those released had later told the police that they had been kept at a building in Kadugodi, some 20km to the east of Bangalore, for two days.
A police officer said a search was on to arrest the culprits and find the remaining victim. “The investigation is still on to trace them all. As of now, we don’t have any information if the suspects have left the city,” said the officer from Amruthahalli police station who declined to be named.
Karimullah, a Rohingya who lives in the hutment colony, recounted the horror of the abduction around 4pm on November 1. “I am among those who saw these illegal Bangladeshis coming and thrashing our youths and kidnapping them. I have narrated the entire episode to the police,” Karimullah, who goes by a single name, told The Telegraph on Thursday.
The matter came to light only five days later when some members of the socio-political organisation Swaraj Abhiyan intervened and got an FIR filed on November 5. The gang had sought “hafta (protection money)” for allowing the Rohingya refugees to continue with their rag picking.
Karimullah said there was no trace of Dil Mohammed in any of the other slums where Rohingya refugees have been living for the past seven years.
“The police say they are searching for him. But we fear the worst as the attackers would have either killed him or confined him at some place,” he said, adding such attacks had become common.
“This is not the first time we are being targeted by Bangladeshis. At least we people are registered with the police and possess all documents. Yet we are being denied our right to life,” said Karimullah.
He said the gangs often threatened them and collected hafta.
“After we lodged the FIR in the kidnap case, they came thrice to threaten to kidnap our children and set fire to our hutments. None of us know what to do. We are ready to go to our own country (Myanmar) the moment things improve there,” said Karimullah, a father of five children who attend a government school.
The Rohingya men have since been taking turns to keep night-time vigil, fearing a backlash for going to the police.
R. Kaleemullah, state coordinating committee member of Swaraj Abhiyan who had helped the refugees lodge the FIR, echoed the fears of Kareemullah.
“The Rohingya refugees have nowhere to go with these gangs threatening them. We have been in touch with the police to ensure the arrest of the suspects,” said Kaleemullah.
“They want justice and we are trying to do our best to ensure they are not harmed by these gangs,” he added.
