New Delhi, July 17 -- Calcutta High Court on Wednesday questioned the Centre the rationale behind country-wide raids targeting Bengali-speaking individuals suspecting them to be illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. This comes after West Bengal government told the Calcutta HC that the development is 'alarming'. The court later asked both Centre and the state government to submit affidavits accordingly

A division bench of Justices, Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra, who were hearing the case, questioned, "What were the reasons? Was this pre- planned?"

"Let these issues be cleared. Else, it will send out a wrong message. This could be a wrongful act. Allegations have been made that people are being illegally deported to Banglades...