Gujarat Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja Asks Bihar, UP Migrants to Return, Says Have Filed 35 FIRS, Arrested Over 450

Gujarat Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja on Monday asked the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrants workers, who left the state after violence broke out in Mehsana and Sabarkantha, to return to the state.

Updated: October 8, 2018 4:52 PM IST

By India.com News Desk

Gujarat Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja Asks Bihar, UP Migrants to Return, Says Have Filed 35 FIRS, Arrested Over 450
Gujarat migrant workers fleeing (Credit: Twitter user Siddharth Kumar)

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Gujarat Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja on Monday asked the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrants workers, who left the state after violence broke out in Mehsana and Sabarkantha, to return to the state. Making an appeal to them, Jadeja said that a total of 35 FIRs have been filed and more than 450 accused have been arrested in connection with the violence which broke out to target migrant workers in Gujarat.

Non-Gujaratis were targeted and hate messages circulated against them on social media after a native of Bihar was arrested for allegedly raping the toddler on September 28. Jadeja said that it is their responsibility to provide safety to the migrant workers. “We are very serious about resuming the law and order in the state. We have filed 35 FIRs (First Information Reports in this case,” Pradeepsinh Jadeja said.

On September 28, a 14-month-old girl was allegedly raped in a village near Himmatnagar town of Sabarkantha district, around 100 km from Ahmedabad. The victim belongs to the Thakor community. Last week, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor had raked up the issue of non-Gujaratis while demanding “justice” for the rape survivor. He had demanded that local people be given preference in jobs in industries in Gujarat.

Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that he spoke to his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani and expressed concern over attacks in the western state on non-Gujarati people, including those from Bihar. Condemning the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl, which triggered the violent attacks, Kumar said the guilty must be punished but an entire community should not be “tarred with the same brush”.

“Our government is aware and alert. I spoke to the Gujarat chief minister Sunday. Our chief secretary and director general of police are also in touch with their counterparts in Gujarat. If somebody has committed a crime, he must be punished severely. But on account of one incident, people should not generalise and hold a grouse against an entire state,” he said.

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