Coronavirus lockdown: Police 'punish' 80 migrants, make them walk back 17 km under tight escort

Over 80 migrant workers were made to walk 16.5 km from Majestic to Tumakuru Road as a “punishment” for lying about their place of residence on Wednesday morning, a senior police officer said.

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The workers from Anchepalya and Madavara had walked to the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) nearby on Tuesday morning after learning that the government was arranging for their transport back home.

According to the officer, the workers had streamed in after over 4,000 migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal rushed to railway and police stations in the city on Monday thinking that the government was running trains to send them home. Fearing a law and order problem, police transported these 4,000 workers to the BIEC from where they were taken to their quarters by 150 BMTC buses throughout Tuesday.

This back-and-forth transport of the workers created an intense buzz among other migrants, especially those living in areas near the BIEC, such as Anchepalya, Madavara, Nelamangala and Dobbspet in northern Bengaluru.

They presumed that the 4,000 workers were sent to their native places on Tuesday. But as the second crowd of workers started walking to the BIEC, police stopped them midway. They explained that no worker was sent to his native place and that all of them were sent to their quarters. Police also locked the BIEC so that no more migrants came in.

After learning about this, while most migrants walked back to their quarters, a group of 80 workers from Anchepalya and Madavara apparently lied about their place of residence. They said they lived near Majestic. Accordingly, police transported from the BIEC to Majestic on Tuesday evening.

The workers believed they would get trains from the KSR Bengaluru (City) railway station. While they were waiting, police discovered they had lied about their place of residence and come to Majestic.

Police decided to “punish” them and made them walk back to their quarters in Anchepalya, about 16.5 km away. A patrol car even followed them till Parle Biscuits Factory on Tumakuru Road. A team of Bengaluru rural police then took over and ferried the migrants to their quarters early on Wednesday morning.

The police officer said the workers were bitter that the Bengaluru city police “ill-treated” them and made them walk almost 17 km. They almost clashed with them until the rural cops came in.