India, July 31 -- Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Thursday spoke against the detention of hundreds of migrant workers from West Bengal in states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha and Delhi on the suspicion that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

"This issue is not related only to Bengal. India is a democratic nation. We will object if any Indian from any state is tortured or neglected in another state," Sen, who lives in the US, told reporters after reaching 'Pratichi,' his ancestral home at Santiniketan in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

Since most detainees have alleged that they were singled out only because they speak Bengali, Sen focused on the language.

"Bengali has a historic value. Great men like Rabindranath Tagore ...