SIR checks in Jamshedpur: Afghan-origin residents go quiet as three booked

A small Afghan-origin community that has lived in Jamshedpur for generations has withdrawn from public view after three of its members were booked during checks for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Asil Khan, 47, Mohammad Aslam, 41, and Mohammad Ibrahim, 44, are related — Ibrahim and Asil are brothers, and Aslam is their cousin. All three are unmarried. Ibrahim has been arrested while the other two are absconding. They face allegations of forging documents to enrol in the SIR.

In neighbourhoods such as Golmuri, Dhatkidih, Jugsalai and Mango, where most Afghan-origin families live, the mood is one of fear. Shops have shut, acquaintances have pulled back, and a mosque frequented by the community declined to answer questions.

How the case surfaced

The three men applied for SIR enrolment and, after receiving notices, submitted documents to establish identity and residence. Officials grew suspicious while examining their passports.

A. Lalitha, the Block Level Officer for Golmuri, said the notices were issued because the three could not be mapped to the electoral roll prepared after the last intensive revision in 2003. She said she learnt of their Afghan nationality only after the papers were scrutinised.

Dhalbhum Sub-Divisional Officer Arnav Mishra, who is also the Electoral Registration Officer, said the cousins submitted photocopies of their passports, and it remains unclear how they obtained them. The passports cleared an initial round of scrutiny before being sent for second-level verification, which showed that Ibrahim's passport had earlier been suspended on the possibility of his being an Afghan national, while cancellation proceedings for the other two were under way on the same grounds.

A team led by Mishra investigated, questioned Ibrahim and submitted a report to the district administration. It was forwarded to the Chief Electoral Officer's office in Ranchi, after which the district administration was told to register an FIR at Golmuri police station.

Mishra acknowledged that checks showed the three had lived at the same address for about 26 years, and that the BLO's information about them being settled in the area dates back to at least 2005. They never formally acquired Indian citizenship, he noted. Under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the route to citizenship has been eased for refugees from Afghanistan and some neighbouring countries, but the provision does not extend to Muslims.

Gaurav Singh, the investigating officer, said the documents the men submitted were made many years ago. He observed that the core issue is the absence of Indian citizenship, adding that living and working anywhere is not an offence, though it does not confer the right to vote.

A community that predates Independence

Residents say Afghan families have been in Jamshedpur for decades, with some arriving before 1947. Many travelled across India for trade. Blanket selling is among the community's best-known occupations, alongside dry fruits and clothing, with wealthier members historically acting as moneylenders — a trade now in decline.

Wasim, a landlord in Golmuri who rented a room to the three men and did not wish to share his surname, said he has known the family for decades and that they had been settled in the area for 25-26 years, having earlier lived elsewhere in the city. He recalled Ibrahim pleading, as police took him away, that the family had been in Jamshedpur for 60-70 years. Wasim added that Ibrahim had travelled abroad for work in the past but had stopped recently.

A man in his fifties, speaking anonymously, said many Afghan families arrived before Independence and moved around the country for business.

In Jugsalai, one family is known across the city for traditional healing. Its head, known as "Khan Baba" and in his early forties, said the family has been treating people for more than 65-70 years, a practice passed down from his father. He said they came during the British era, first settling in Karnataka, and that for three generations everyone has been born in India.

A 29-year-old real estate agent in Dhatkidih said his great-grandfather served in the Indian Army under the British and received a house in Danapur, Patna, for his services, while his grandfather worked at Tata Steel. He said the family holds multiple government-issued identity documents and travels to Afghanistan, where some extended relatives still live.

Qamar Sultana, who runs a small shop in Dhatkidih, said he knew Afghan families who had lived in the area for years, including about a dozen who once shared a building. He does not know where they are now, but said they never concealed their identity and he had never heard of any illegal activity by them.

Sources said no other member of the community is known to be facing problems because of the SIR.

The wider SIR picture

In East Singhbhum district, which includes Jamshedpur, the electorate stood at roughly 19 lakh before the SIR. About 3.98 lakh names were deleted at the draft stage, leaving a draft roll of 15.11 lakh voters, with notices served on around 4.5 lakh people.

The case also follows an earlier episode. In January this year, three Afghan nationals living in Jamshedpur were detained by a joint team of the Jharkhand ATS and Delhi Police for questioning in an investigation into alleged fake passports and other documents. The three, who lived with their families in rented accommodation in Golmuri, had their passports seized. The ATS later said all were released after interrogation and that the investigation was continuing. ATS SP Raj Kumar Mehta said he had just taken charge and was not aware of the case details, but that if the accused had got bail, it may have been because they had proper documents.