The lynching of a 19-year-old Bengali labourer in Odisha exemplifies a growing climate of communal violence against Bengali-speaking Muslim migrant workers in India
On Christmas Eve in Sambalpur, Odisha, a 19-year-old construction worker named Juyel Rana was beaten to death by a mob that accused him of being an “illegal Bangladeshi.” Written by Alishan Jaffrey for The Wire, the report traces not only the events of that night, but the wider atmosphere of fear now surrounding Bengali-speaking migrant workers, especially Bengali Muslims, across India.
Rana had travelled from Murshidabad, in West Bengal, to Sambalpur in search of work. He was employed as a mason at a construction site and lived in a rented room with other migrant labourers. According to testimony from a relative and co-worker, five men forced their way into the room on the evening of December 24, demanding proof of Indian citizenship. Such surveillance by self-styled Hindutva, or right-wing vigilantes, is increasingly common under India’s ruling BJP government. Before Rana could show his documents, the men allegedly attacked him with iron rods and sticks.
By the time fellow workers intervened and rushed him to hospital, Rana was already dead. Two other migrant workers who were assaulted alongside him remain in critical condition. Contrary to early reports, Rana was not 30 years old, nor was the attack sparked by a dispute at a tea stall. A copy of his Aadhaar card (a biometric identity card in India) confirms his age as 19, underscoring how quickly misinformation circulated alongside the violence.
Police accounts have sought to downplay the incident. Officials initially suggested the killing was the result of a dispute over a beedi – a type of cigarette – while an inspector general described it as an act of “sudden provocation,” denying that it was a targeted attack. These explanations sit alongside eyewitness testimony describing a coordinated intrusion and explicit demands for proof of nationality.
Members of the political opposition, Indian citizens and also Rana’s relatives point to the recent violence against Bengali-speaking migrants and working-class Indian migrant workers everywhere. Fear among migrant workers has also intensified since a Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was killed in Bangladesh. Many Muslim migrant workers now say that they want to leave Odisha altogether and return home.
The Sambalpur killing is not an isolated case. It is the second such lynching in a single week. Days earlier, Ramnarayan Baghel, a migrant worker from Chhattisgarh, was beaten to death in Kerala after being asked whether he was Bangladeshi. In that case, arrests have been made, and police are considering invoking the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Migrant workers’ groups warn that these attacks form a pattern. Asif Farooq of the Migrant Workers Unity Forum links the violence to a recent Home Ministry notification and an increase in police action against alleged “illegal Bangladeshis,” particularly in BJP-ruled states. He says that wrongful arrests, deportations, and inflammatory rhetoric have created conditions in which mobs feel authorised to act.
Meanwhile, West Bengal MP Samirul Islam pointed out that the killing was part of an anti-Bengali campaign, accusing BJP supporters of targeting Bengali-speaking workers as infiltrators. His comments reflect a wider opinion in Bengal, where many fear that language, religion, and migration status are increasingly being weaponised.
At its core, the killing of Juel Rana reveals how easily hyped-up suspicions can turn lethal when citizenship is treated as something to be proven on demand. A teenage labourer, far from home, was forced to account for his right to exist and was killed before he could speak. The violence points not only to the vulnerability of migrant workers, but to a dangerous normalisation of Hindutva vigilante justice in the name of national belonging.
Deepak on the selection:
As the world strayed into the new year, in India, society began to witness a spur of lynchings. In Odisha, ruled by the BJP, a Bengali man was lynched on suspicion of being Bangladeshi. Across India, violence against working-class Bengali speakers is rampant today, and especially against Bengali Muslims. Today, such violence is frequent and occurs on the basis of Bengali-speaking workers being branded as “infiltrators” by the ruling regime, creating a pretext for constant assault by Hindutva foot-soldiers on the lives and livelihoods of Indian Muslims. These attacks are often recorded on video, however, the perpetrators often go unpunished. Meanwhile, twelve Indian Muslims have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh for praying in a private space. This is the degree to which Indian citizenship varies today depending on faith: while Hindu perpetrators continue to announce and plan attacks on working-class Indian Muslims, the latter are punished by both citizens and the state’s actors for their mere existence. Also in December, attacks by right-wing Hindu groups against Indian Christians intensified, with attacks on churches, assaults on pastors and intimidation of carollers across cities in India.
This original source article ‘ओडिशा: महज़ 19 साल का था ‘बांग्लादेशी’ होने के शक में लिंचिंग का शिकार बना बंगाल का श्रमिक’ by Alishan Jaffrey, was published in Hindi in The Wire Hindi on 25 December, 2025.
It is available here.
The Wire Hindi is the Hindi-language edition of The Wire, an independent Indian news outlet known for in-depth reporting and critical analysis of politics, society, and rights issues.
Summary by ZN.
