Acting on a tip-off given by the internal security division about a colony of waste-pickers near Hebbugodi that was home to several illegal Bangladeshi migrants, the Sarjapur police conducted a raid on Friday.
The police also found around 15 old cartridges of bullets during the raid, and have filed a case under The Arms Act, 1959. This has come under criticism by activists working with waste-pickers in the city. Prior to the raid, the police detained Shobiqul Islam, an illegal migrant and resident of the waste-pickers colony in Kommasandra on August 22. His interrogation revealed that there were others in the colony without valid documents.
During the raid on Friday, the police arrested Shafikul, Mohammed Raquib, Mohammed Shafiqul, Mohammed Habib, Mohammed Saddam Hussein, Mohammed Arif, Taniya, Kakili, Asma, and two others. They were living in sheds on a plot of land owned by Nagesh, also a resident of Kommasandra.
They eked out a living picking waste from the streets, which they segregated in the colony and sold to recycling units. It was while rummaging through the garbage piles that the police recovered the cartridges of bullets. The cartridges are very old and unlikely related to them and may have been picked up from the streets or garbage piles, said a senior official.
Nalini Shekhar of Hasiru Dala, working with waste-pickers, said booking a case under the arms Act for old cartridges found with the waste-pickers is an insensitive move.
“Rich people in these areas are targeting such colonies with complaints ranging from open defecation to them being an eyesore. Searching for some cartridges from a waste pile and booking them under the arms Act only perpetrates a stereotype of them as criminals,” she said.