The Ernakulam Rural police in Kerala are staring at the humongous, if not impossible, task of obtaining police clearance certificates of migrant workers within their limits from the police authorities of the respective districts in other States where the workers hail from.
The police had kickstarted the registration of migrant workers shortly after the gruesome murder of a five-year-old migrant girl allegedly by a migrant worker at Aluva in July, 2023. The trial in the case is under way.
So far, the police claim to have registered around 1.2 lakh migrant workers. Migrant workers from Assam topped the list followed by West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.
“The data collected at the individual police stations are being collated on the Janamaithri Suraksha Portal at the district police headquarters. After categorising the data State-wise, we are now about to create a district-wise categorisation for sending their details to the district police chiefs concerned for getting the credentials of migrants verified and cleared. It is a time-consuming process and may take months,” said Vivek Kumar, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).
Drain of resources
For an already stretched police force, the registration of migrant workers has become a huge drain on their limited resources. Teams from police stations are assigned a specific number of wards on selected days for registration of migrant workers for which they may or may not receive the cooperation of the local body members. Besides, patrolling teams collect details of migrants found in suspicious circumstances.
Asked whether the registration amounted to profiling and stereotyping of the migrant community, which is already looked up on with suspicion by local residents, Mr. Kumar said every act will have its pros and cons and that it depends on how one interprets it. It helps in easy identification of the migrants who, for instance, die in accidents here or are involved in suspicious activities, he added.
“In any case, we have not made their rights to movement and livelihood here incumbent on registration. It is like collecting the details of senior citizens in an area for extending better care to them,” said Mr. Kumar.
Benoy Peter, executive director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, observed that the very fact that the police have not made registration mandatory gives away the “unconstitutional” nature of the entire exercise.
Xenophobic sentiments
“It is a mere populist, face-saving measure which, besides trampling upon the fundamental rights of the migrant community, engenders xenophobic sentiments among the local populace. And if the police authorities from respective districts of migrants do not respond to the request for verification of credentials, considering their limited resources, the exercise may end up being futile and unsustainable,” he said.
