Two female working professionals living in Jamia Nagar alleged that two men claiming to be policemen visited their apartment on August 7, unaccompanied by any female officer. They said that the policemen were inquiring about the work they do, the place they come from and if any Kashmiri lives with them in the apartment.

One of the women, Aliya, who is a journalist by profession, said that the one of the policemen was in a police uniform while the other in casuals.

Speaking to Indiatimes, Aliya said, “These officials are terrorising us. We are five girls living in a shared apartment.

“Before even citing the reason behind this random turn-up, they asserted that so many girls are living in a PG which the landlord has not even registered. They inquired about the number of girls I lived with and where are we from. They asked what was the professional status of other girls and if any of them was from Jammu and Kashmir. The last question was repeated thrice,” said Aliya.

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The officials asked her to hand over her ID card to which she objected.

“I refused, saying I wasn't carrying a xerox and wouldn't hand over the original. Also, I told them that even they did not show their ID cards and questioned the authenticity of their claims of being police officials,” she said.

The officials claimed that they are part of a “special team from Jamia Thana.” Aliya added that the officials said they will be back later for the ID proofs.

“The stream of ‘what ifs’ and ‘should haves’ clouded my mind after they left. What if my previous flatmate, who is from Jammu and Kashmir, had still been here? Should they be profiling us just because we are Muslims? The random barging-in of policemen had happened same time, around Independence Day, last year and year before that but they had stuck to boys’ hostel and PG in Jamia Nagar. Were they planning to drag the girls too into custody ‘for security reasons’ this time? Are they now coming for Kashmiris living outside the Valley? And why?,” Aliya added.

She said that she read some posts on social media from those living in neighbouring areas claiming that police dropped in at their homes and inquired about any Kashmiris living there.

The incident happened after Centre abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to Kashmiris on August 5, announcing that Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are now Union Territories.

Indiatimes tried reaching out to SHO, Jamia Nagar, but the calls went unanswered. We will update the story once we get comments from police.