Kolkata, July 11 -- The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi administration to clarify the status of six Bengali-speaking individuals from Bengal who were allegedly detained in New Delhi and then deported to Bangladesh.
The court also instructed the chief secretary of West Bengal to coordinate with his Delhi counterpart to ensure compliance.
A division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra passed the order while hearing two habeas corpus petitions filed by family members of the missing persons.
The petitioners alleged that their relatives, including four migrant workers employed in Rohini, New Delhi, were picked up solely for speaking Bengali and suspected of being Bangladeshi nationals.
One petitioner sought the release of his son-in-law Danish Sekh, daughter Sunali Khatun, and minor grandson Sabir Sekh. The other sought the release of Kurban Sheikh, his wife Sweety Bibi, and their minor son Imam Dewan. In both cases, it was alleged that the individuals were detained beyond 24 hours without being produced before a magistrate.
The advocate appearing for the petitioners submitted that the detainees were not only held unlawfully but their relatives have learnt from media reports that they were also allegedly deported to Bangladesh without any verification of their Indian citizenship.
He argued that the actions constituted serious violations of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution, which guarantee protection of life and liberty and safeguards against arbitrary detention.
Taking note of the gravity of the allegations, the court remarked that it "cannot be a silent spectator" to such potential violations. It directed the authorities to respond to the following six queries: (i) whether the individuals are detained or missing; (ii) if detained, is there any court order; (iii) what are the grounds for detention; (iv) were the reasons communicated to them; (v) is the detention linked to any investigation; (vi) has there been communication between Delhi and West Bengal.
The matter will be heard again on July 16.
Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee had recently expressed outrage over such detention of Bengali migrant workers and said that she would bring these matters to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"There are over 1.5 crore migrant workers in Bengal who live with dignity. But the same cannot be said for BJP-ruled states, where Bengalis are being treated as infiltrators in their own country," Banerjee had posted on X. "Speaking Bengali does not make one a Bangladeshi. These individuals are as much citizens of India as anyone else, regardless of what language they speak," she added.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.