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Informist, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Centre and different state governments on a petition against the alleged deportation of Bengali Muslim migrant workers to Bangladesh. Refusing to provide interim relief to the petitioner, the West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board, the apex court said it will wait for responses from the Centre and states before taking a final call on the matter.

 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said that under the cover of a circular from the Ministry of Home Affairs in May, various state authorities were randomly picking up Bengali Muslim migrant labourers, and in almost all cases, when the matter was sent for verification, they were found to be Indian citizens. In some cases, when Bangladesh said they were not their citizens, these people were brought back to India, said Bhushan. 

 

The top court said there needs to be a nodal agency to coordinate between the state of origin of migrant workers and the state where they have gone for livelihood. Bhushan said the problem was these workers were being sent to detention centres and some were even being tortured, which is causing panic. The Foreigners Act, 1946, does not authorise the government to detain people who are suspected to be foreigners, said Bhushan. If the authorities suspect something, they should enquire, but detention should not be there in those cases, Bhushan added.

 

"Suppose someone has come illegally to India, how to deal with that situation? If they don't detain, he will disappear," the top court remarked. It said some mechanism was required for bonafide workers. One possible solution was that the state of origin could issue some kind of card and local police could accept it as prima facie proof of him coming for livelihood, said the top court.

 

According to media reports, since May 7, when the Union Government launched Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, over 2,000 Bengali-speaking migrants have been deported to Bangladesh after a nationwide verification exercise in states such as Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Assam, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa. Most of them are then flown by Indian Air Force aircraft to border states such as Tripura, Meghalaya, and Assam — where they are held in makeshift camps, handed over to the Border Security Force, and deported to Bangladesh, often within hours.  End 

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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