Bengaluru police detain 900 migrants, release 800 within 24 hours

The Story in Brief

At 6:30 am on August 8, 2026, police teams broke into sheds of Bengali Muslim migrant workers across Bengaluru and detained over 900 people, including children and the elderly. The workers, employed in manual waste segregation, a job no one else in the city does, were targeted in what police called a drive to identify 'illegal Bangladeshis'. No warrants or written orders were produced. Officers seized phones, smashed CCTV cameras put up for safety, and physically assaulted detainees. Lawyers and activists were barred from meeting them.

Within 24 hours, the police released 800 of the 900-plus detainees, confirming that the vast majority were Indian citizens. The remaining 100 were still in custody at the time of reporting. The constitutional rights of the most marginalised migrant group in the city were violated, thenewsminute.com reports. The workers are economic refugees from Bengali-speaking, lower-caste Muslim communities, with no land, savings, or political power. They form the bottom layer of Bengaluru's waste management system, hired through informal contracts.