Eight arrested for assaulting migrant workers

The arrested men were identified as Ravi Singh, 36, Narendra Chauhan, 39, and Sudhir Singh, 31, who were nabbed on Wednesday.

The police on Thursday said that eight people were arrested for allegedly assaulting at least four migrant workers with sticks at their rented room in Aliyar village, IMT Manesar. The alleged incident took place after the migrant workers allegedly protested the closure of a vegetable shop by the members of a committee which was created by the village panchayat and given the responsibility of making sure that residents follow the lockdown order, the police said. However, the migrant workers denied the claim and said that they were being harassed by the arrested men, who are part of the committee, for getting out of their house to get drinking water and groceries.

The police on Thursday said that eight people were arrested for allegedly assaulting at least four migrant workers

The arrested men were identified as Ravi Singh, 36, Narendra Chauhan, 39, and Sudhir Singh, 31, who were nabbed on Wednesday. The five other men were arrested on Thursday and identified as Pritam, Ramesh Kumar, Alok Singh, Ravindra and Rahul Singh. The police said all of them are residents of Aliyar village.

In the police complaint, Krishna Kumar, one of the victims, alleged that on Wednesday around 11.30am, he and his friends, all of whom are migrants who work at different automobile industries based in the area, were sitting in their rented room when at least 20 people came there with sticks and began beating them.

“One of the men hit me on the head with a stick, after which I began bleeding profusely. The men assaulted and abused many people who stay in my building. They threatened to kill them and fled the spot,” he added in the FIR.

Arvind Kumar, station house officer (SHO), IMT Manesar police station, said, “The arrested men are part of a committee which was set up by the panchayat to make sure that village residents follow the orders of the lockdown. On Wednesday morning, when the members of the committee reached near where the migrant workers live, they saw a vegetable shop open. They then asked the owner to shut down his shop. However, when the migrant workers saw this, they began protesting, hooting and created noise. Subsequently, the committee members went to their building and assaulted them.” He added that only one migrant worker sustained an injury during the incident and his condition is reported to be stable.

The police said that the committee had decided that grocery shops and other shops of essential items will remain open in the morning between 8am and 11am and in the evening between 4pm and 8pm.

Chotu Kumar Singh, one of the victims, refuted the police’s version and said that the suspects have been harassing him and the other migrant workers for the past five days. “We do not get clean drinking water in our building. So, we have to go to our workplace which is located nearby and get the water. These men have been abusing us and threatening us against getting out of our house. But we need to get groceries and water for our survival. Eight of our friends have sustained injuries due to the assault and one of them is in the hospital currently,” he added.

A case was registered against the men under sections 148, 149, 323, 452, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at IMT Manesar police station on Wednesday.

The SHO said that police personnel are posted at the village and the law and order situation is under control.