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Migrant workers flee Gurugram as cops assure communal tensions now abating
The Gurugram police on Thursday also formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe an incident of arson in a mosque on Tuesday.
Fear coursed through migrant workers in Gurugram, as people employed in factories, restaurants, households and at construction sites left the city in droves or stayed put in their homes, after they were threatened by some local residents, or for fear of being attacked in the wake of the communal violence that tore through neighbouring Nuh district on Monday.
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State authorities and law enforcement said peace and normalcy had returned to Nuh and Gurugram districts. Security teams spread across sensitive neighbourhoods to stamp out any fresh violence.
The Gurugram police on Thursday also formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe an incident of arson in a mosque on Tuesday which claimed the life of a cleric.
This came after clashes erupted during a Hindu religious procession in Haryana’s Nuh.
The Gurugram police SIT will consist of seven officers of police station and crime teams led by deputy commissioner of police, said officials.
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Meanwhile, on Thursday, a mosque was set on fire and a short circuit apparently triggered a blaze in another in Nuh district.
According to the Haryana government, six people have been killed so far in the violence, 116 people have been arrested, 90 detained, and 44 FIRs registered in connection with the clashes that has spread to Gurugram, Rajasthan’s Bhiwani, and even Delhi.
The Delhi Police, meanwhile, registered 26 first information reports (FIRs) against unknown people in connection with unauthorised processions organised by members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal on Wednesday to protest the Nuh attack.
Officers involved in the investigations also said police are analysing videos of the protests to ascertain if hate speeches were made during the protests. The Supreme Court had, on Wednesday, allowed the protests to be carried out, but with the caveat that not hate speech be made during these processions,
Yet, despite the state’s and police’s reassurances, tensions were writ large in Gurugram and Nuh.
Several residents in Gurugram, which houses several headquarters of global corporations and offices of multinational firms, said their Muslim domestic helps, car cleaners, cooks, security guards and drivers did not report to work after they were allegedly threatened by locals to leave the area. It was no different in some factories, salons, and even shops at malls, said district officials.
Jabbar Ali, a resident of a slum in Sector 70A, said a group of 20 locals from Palda village threatened to set their huts on fire if they didn’t leave the homes by Friday.
“What about our safety in a city where we have worked for so many years? There is no help from the administration or police. People are misbehaving with us; shopkeepers have stopped giving us rations and random people are visiting us at night and assaulting us. It is difficult to survive with this kind of humiliation,” he said while packing his bags.
Mina Khatun, a native of Malda in West Bengal, said she left work as there was no security arrangement for them in the area. “I fear that locals will assault me if they find me walking towards the condominium. The employer refused to help me in case of any violence. Why should we risk our lives staying here? It’s better we leave and find work elsewhere,” she said.
Hasina Begum, another native of West Bengal who works in five apartments in Sector 48, said she has taken advance from her employer to leave for her relative’s place. “I will return only after the situation gets normal. My children are scared and we were unable to sleep for the past two nights fearing attacks. The landlord has asked us to leave,” she said.
