The Crossbill News Desk
Several members of the Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, on Saturday (August 10) detained 34 individuals at a construction site in Odisha’s Sambalpur district, wrongly accusing them of being Bangladeshi nationals.
The detainees were handed over to local police but were later released after authorities verified that they were not from Bangladesh.
The Ainthapali police confirmed that the 34 men, who are originally from Murshidabad in West Bengal, had been working at the construction site in Budharaja area of the western Odisha town over a few months, The Indian Express reported.
“We did not find anything suspicious, so we released the 34 individuals,” said a police officer from Sambalpur.
Recently, the Hindu right-wing outfits have been targeting Muslims across various parts of the state, accusing them of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators” amid the ongoing crisis in the neighbouring country.
According to media outlet Maktoobmedia, over the past 24 hours, at least four videos have emerged on social media, allegedly depicting attacks on Bengali-speaking Muslims in Odisha.
Reports indicate that these incidents occurred in the districts of Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, and Sambalpur, where local residents confronted Bengali-speaking Muslim labourers, demanding proof of their Indian citizenship.
In one video, a Muslim man reports that he sustained a bleeding forehead after being assaulted on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi.
On Sunday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took action by contacting her Odisha counterpart, Mohan Charan Majhi, and requesting an investigation into the alleged assaults on labourers from her state.
In response to these incidents, the Bengal Migrant Welfare Board has established a helpline number to support those facing such attacks.
The detainees were handed over to local police but were later released after authorities verified that they were not from Bangladesh.
The Ainthapali police confirmed that the 34 men, who are originally from Murshidabad in West Bengal, had been working at the construction site in Budharaja area of the western Odisha town over a few months, The Indian Express reported.
“We did not find anything suspicious, so we released the 34 individuals,” said a police officer from Sambalpur.
Recently, the Hindu right-wing outfits have been targeting Muslims across various parts of the state, accusing them of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators” amid the ongoing crisis in the neighbouring country.
According to media outlet Maktoobmedia, over the past 24 hours, at least four videos have emerged on social media, allegedly depicting attacks on Bengali-speaking Muslims in Odisha.
Reports indicate that these incidents occurred in the districts of Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, and Sambalpur, where local residents confronted Bengali-speaking Muslim labourers, demanding proof of their Indian citizenship.
In one video, a Muslim man reports that he sustained a bleeding forehead after being assaulted on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi.
On Sunday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took action by contacting her Odisha counterpart, Mohan Charan Majhi, and requesting an investigation into the alleged assaults on labourers from her state.
In response to these incidents, the Bengal Migrant Welfare Board has established a helpline number to support those facing such attacks.
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