Chennai: The move by the Tamil Nadu police to enumerate migrant workers, students and tenants on the basis of their language is an affront to the constitutional freedom of an Indian to live and work anywhere in the country, said civil rights activists and trade union leaders here Friday.
Following heists in two banks in Chennai and a jewellery shop in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, the state police has asked colleges to give data on students from north India and the landlords about their tenants.
While the activists agree that gathering of information is not an issue, they say it is not the job of police to do that in the backdrop of recent crimes.
"Such a move results in a sort of hate campaign against the people from the North," Geetha Ramaseshan, an advocate, told reporters in Chennai.
The civil rights activists said migrant workers are to be registered under the Inter State Migrant Workmen's Act and the work should be done by the state labour department and not the police.
According to Madhumita Dutta, convenor, Campaign for Justice and Peace, targeting north Indian students is not good as good values are imparted in educational institutions.
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