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Jammu cops crack down on locals ‘sheltering’ Rohingyas; 50 held
The arrests were made from Kishtwar, Ramban, Poonch and Rajouri districts, while 10 Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals were booked in Doda, the officer said
At least 50 people, seven of them married couples, were arrested and many others booked on Tuesday in a major police action against those harbouring Rohingya migrants or facilitating their stay with illegal papers in Jammu, an officer said.
The arrests were made from Kishtwar, Ramban, Poonch and Rajouri districts, while 10 Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals were booked in Doda, the officer said.
A total of seven FIRs were registered at different police stations in Jammu where the police parties swooped on the Rohingya slums at over two dozen places and carried out house-to-house searches.
“Some locals have provided their plots of land to settle the outside immigrants. We are checking and identifying these facilitators, who are also availing the government benefits for them,” deputy inspector general (DIG), Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Shakti Pathak, told reporters outside a Rohingya settlement here.
Pathak, who was supervising the crackdown, said some 30 locations under seven police stations were searched in the Jammu city.
Acting on the Union home ministry’s instructions, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has launched a crackdown on Rohingyas, a Bengali-dialect speaking Muslim minority in Myanmar, and Bangladeshis. Legal action has also been initiated against local residents who provided shelter to Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in Jammu region.
Following persecution in their country, many Rohingyas entered India illegally through Bangladesh and took shelter in Jammu, among other parts.
According to government data, over 13,700 foreigners, including Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals, were settled in the Union Territory, where their population increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016.
During a verification drive in March 2021, police found over 270 Rohingyas living illegally in Jammu city and subsequently lodged them in a holding centre inside the Kathua sub-jail .
A police spokesperson said action has been initiated against all those who have been facilitators in providing shelter and government benefits to Rohingyas and cases have been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of important documents), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document), at Satwari, Trikuta Nagar, Bagh-e- Bahu, Channi Himmat, Domana and Nagrota police stations.
“Searches were conducted in the presence of magistrates at different locations where non-citizens were accommodated and at the houses of the facilitators,” the spokesperson said. Illegally acquired documents, such as PAN cards, Adhaar cards, domicile certificates and bank documents were seized.
Police booked 10 illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in Doda district after three FIRs were registered for illegally procuring Indian identity documents.
Doda senior superintendent of police (SSP) Abdul Qayoom said the FIRs were registered at Bhaderwah and Gandoh police stations. He added that some Rohingya women had married locals in Doda and even had children.
On October 18, the administration set up a high-powered committee to identify foreign nationals overstaying in the UT since January 1, 2011.
The six member panel is headed by the financial commissioner and additional chief secretary, home department, RK Goyal and has foreigners regional registration officer, Amritsar, SSPs of the CID wing of Jammu and Srinagar and all 20 SSPs of J&K among its members.
With PTI inputs
