The Hindu : IT professionals among 270 Indians roughed up in Malaysia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 10, 2003

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IT professionals among 270 Indians roughed up in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR March 9. Malaysian police today rounded up around 270 Indians, including many IT professionals, and allegedly defaced their passports, slapped and kicked several of them before releasing all but five of them later.

Police carried out a dawn swoop in search of illegal immigrants on a high-rise apartment in the ethnic Indian-dominated neighbourhood of Brickfields in central Kuala Lumpur.

"There were around 270 of us, and we have already got the signatures of 178, and we'll get the rest by tomorrow," said Dilip, an IT professional, who presented a petition to the Indian High Commission on behalf of all those detained.

A Malaysian police officer earlier told PTI that some 164 Indians were picked up during the raid adding they were released following the intervention of the Indian High Commission and proof that they had valid visas.

Some showed they were working for companies registered in Malaysia's multi-media Super Corridor, the information technology project zone running from Kuala Lumpur to Cyberjaya, some 45 minutes' drive away, he said.

"This has been a black day for all of us," the Indian High Commissioner, Veena Sikri, said addressing the people who were released. "We have taken the matter to the highest authority, and we will get to the bottom of the issue."

Police initially denied Indian officials access to those taken into custody, but later relented. Several showed PTI their passports, pointing out that their visas had been scratched.

A Malaysian immigration official, who verified the defaced visas, said the individuals and their employers would have to apply to his department for fresh visa.

The detainees recounted how police burst into their homes and herded them to a nearby police station, from where some were taken to jail

"We were handcuffed and made to kneel or sit in the police station car park, some of us were slapped and kicked," said Nagaraju Cheekoti, another IT professional working for WWI Malaysia.

Some said they were ordered to do sit-ups, while others said they were stripped, slapped and kicked inside the station. Police confiscated their cellphones and refused to give them access to telephones.

Police officials at the Brickfields station refused to speak to PTI.

"We don't want to stay in this country if we are treated like this. We have come here at the invitation of Malaysian companies," said one of the detainees to a chorus of approval from other detainees. "We don't feel safe," he said.

Most of the detainees were men from Andhra Pradesh. A couple of women were also taken into custody, but they were not handcuffed.

One group said they were just visiting friends in Kuala Lumpur, after making the short trip from next-door Singapore.

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