Women in a settlement of migrant workers in Bengaluru were allegedly attacked by goons at the behest of their landowner, and their houses were also damaged. Those who were attacked include a pregnant lady. The incident took place at the settlement in Thubarahalli in Varthur Police Station limits in Bengaluru.
Following the attack, the owner, Manjunath Gowda, also allegedly tried to forcefully evict tenants. Police said they are at the spot to protect the migrants and stop any evictions.
Most of the families living in the shanties are blue-collar workers who work in the vicinity and are Muslims from West Bengal.
This incident occurred on Saturday, and following the attack, the houses of some of the women were also trashed by the goons. TNM has accessed some videos of houses that were broken.
The violence was carried out in the pretext of the women not following social distancing norms.
“On Saturday afternoon, the drinking water tanker came to the area so all of us lined up to get water for ourselves. We get water only twice a week, so everyone came out. This was around 12.30 pm. At around 1 pm, Manjunath Gowda, the landowner, came here and started beating all of us with a stick. He kept abusing us and saying we should not come outside our houses or we will all get coronavirus. I am pregnant and he beat me up. He did not even spare the women. We all ran inside the house,” Ismat Tara, one of the women, told TNM.
Nooraine, another woman who was there, alleged that goons sent by Manjunath Gowda had beaten up people in the Thubarahalli settlement last week as well.
“Last week too, he beat up the pregnant lady and many of us. It was cooler outside in the evening and people were sitting outside our house. At the time, he beat us with a wooden stick. Ismat started bleeding and we were all scared that the baby would not survive but luckily, she was fine after we took her to the nearby hospital,” Nooraine said.
According to Khatija, an activist in the area, she received a call from the residents who complained that Manjunath Gowda had beaten them up a second time. “I called the police. They came here and told us to be inside and went back. They did not take our complaint.” she said.
Ismat alleged that when Manjunath got wind of the residents' complaints to the police, he came back and allegedly beat them up again. “He has asked us to vacate the place in five days. I don’t know where we can go now. He came and destroyed everything inside our hutments. He threw everything on the road,” Ismat said.
When TNM contacted the Varthur Police, they said that none of the residents had filed a complaint.
Kaleemullah, a Bengaluru-based activist with Swaraj Abhiyan who works for the cause of migrant labourers like those in the settlement, said that they have also reached out to the police.
“We do not know why this is happening. When these people earlier faced ostracisation at the behest of the local political leadership or even when they were facing eviction, the landowner Manjunath stood with them and helped them. But the fear of coronavirus and the general Islamophobia which has been spread seems to have got the better of him,” he said.
He added, “Even though the police did visit the settlement, people are too afraid to speak their mind and they do not want to register a complaint as they fear they might get further ill-treatment. So we are trying to reach a compromise with the help of the police.”
Kaleemullah said that Manjunath, who had earlier sided with the migrants during disputes with the local BJP leadership during multiple incidents of attempted evictions on flimsy grounds, is also unhappy with activists as they have called for deferment of rent.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Whitefield, Manoj Kumar, said, “We can’t take any coercive action against anybody unless there is a written complaint. A police team led by a sub-inspector is present at the spot. They will be protected.”