MHA Directive Contradicts Union Minister's Lok Sabha Reply on Detentions of Bangla-Speaking Migrants

The Wire

18 hours ago

While Shobha Karandlaje said state police were responsible for the drives against suspected undocumented immigrants, a May 2 Union home ministry directive proves otherwise.
The recent crackdown has left the entire Khatola neighbourhood in Gurgram, where Assamese migrant workers live, deserted. Photo: Shruti Sharma
New Delhi: On August 11, speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union minister of state for labour and employment Shobha Karandlaje replied to Trinamool Congress MP Abishek Banerjee's question on detentions of Bangla-speaking migrant workers. She said that the responsibility lay with state governments, citing 'public order' and 'policy' as state subjects. While she shared general statistics on migrants from West Bengal, she evaded Banerjee's question regarding concrete data on detained Bangla-speaking migrants.
Karandjale's reply seemed to suggest that somehow, different police forces across states, especially in those ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, spontaneously began simultaneous detention drives of their own accord. However, a directive from the Union home ministry (MHA) and inputs The Wire gathered from officials, lawyers and detainees, point to quite the opposite – that the detentions follow MHA guidelines.
On May 2, the MHA (Foreign Division) had issued a directive to the chief secretaries of all states and union territory administrations, DGPs/IGPs of all states/UTs, the DG of the Border Security Force, DG of Assam Rifles, and DG of Coast Guard, outlining the procedure for deporting undocumented Bangladeshi nationals and the Rohingya. Though a copy of this directive is unavailable online, it has been widely reported in the media.
The directive reads, 'The Central Government has laid down the legal framework wherein all State Governments and Union Territory Administrations are fully empowered to take action regarding detection, imposing restrictions on the movement of illegally staying foreign nationals and their deportation/ removal/ expulsion as per the provisions in the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Foreigners Order, 1948.'
It further states, 'Since the Central Government does not maintain a separate federal police force exclusively dedicated to the task of detection, imposing restrictions on movement and deportation of illegally staying foreigners, action in this regard has been entrusted to the State/ UT police.'
'Therefore, State Governments/ UT Administrations are primarily responsible for identifying the illegally and overstaying foreign nationals, their restriction in identified places and their deportation.'
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The directive also lays down guidelines to be followed while apprehending Bangladeshis and Rohingya living illegally in the country.
It said:
'(i) All State Governments/UT Administrations shall set up a Special Task Force in each District under the police of the State/UT to detect, identify and deport / send-back illegal immigrants from Bangladesh / Myanmar settled in the State/UT concerned.
(ii) All State Governments/UT Administrations shall set up adequate Holding Centers in each District under the Police of the State/UT to detain illegal immigrants from Bangladesh / Myanmar.
(iii) In respect of Bangladesh / Myanmar nationals identified to be staying unauthorizedly in any particular State/UT, an inquiry shall be conducted by the State Government/UT concerned.
(iv) If the suspected Bangladesh / Myanmar national claims Indian citizenship and residence of a place in any other Indian State/UT, the concerned State Government/UT would send to the Home Secretary of the State/UT and District Collector/District Magistrate of the District from where the suspected person claims to hail, the details including name, parentage, residential address, details of near relatives etc. The State Government/ UT/Collector/District Magistrate concerned in turn will ensure that an appropriate report is sent to the deporting State Government/UT after proper verification within a period of 30 days.
During the period of 30 days, the suspected person shall be kept in the Holding Center to ensure physical availability at the time of deportation/ send back. If no report is received within the period of 30 days, the Foreigners Registration Officer may take necessary action to deport/ send-back the suspected Bangladesh/Myanmar national.
If a person is identified as an illegal Bangladesh national / Rohingya after the enquiry, the State/ UT shall immediately capture their biometrics (fingerprints and facial photographs) and demographic details on the Foreigners Identification Portal (FIP) https://identification.mha.gov.in of the MHA. Where connectivity is not available, these shall be captured offline and then shall then be uploaded on the Foreigners Identification Portal (FIP) https://identification.mha.gov.in of the MHA as soon as possible. For this purpose, the State/ UT shall use the biometric equipment available at the Districts under the District Police Module for capturing the biometric data on FIP. In case biometric equipment is available at the Police Station in the State/UT, the same may be used to upload data on the FIP. The use of NAFIS to capture biometrics will stand to be discontinued.
All State Governments/UT Administrations should maintain a record of illegal Bangladesh nationals or Rohingya handed over to designated Border Guarding Forces / Coast Guards for deportation and send a report in this regard to the Ministry of Home Affairs by the 15th day of every month through the FRRO. This report is mandatory.
The order instructs states, UTs, and border guarding forces to strictly follow the revised deportation guidelines and avoid 'unnecessary publicity' around such actions. It further says that complete details of any detained Bangladeshi or Rohingya should be sent to the Ministry of External Affairs.'
It carries the signature of Pratap Singh Rawat, under secretary, MHA (Foreigners).
Initially, this MHA directive was not publicly available, not even on the ministry's website. When The Wire inquired with Gurugram police officials about the order, they confirmed receiving a copy but refused to share it.
The PRO of Gurugram Police had told The Wire, 'Although police can detain 'suspected' foreign nationals without any order from the government, in this matter, we have the MHA directives.' Senior police officials at various instances reiterated the same claim.
However, under the Foreigners Act of 1946, a uthorities cannot detain individuals solely on suspicion of being foreign nationals. Despite being severely critiqued as flawed by legal experts, there is an expectation on the part of the state to produce some evidence before a foreigners tribunal, like in the case of Assam, to challenge a person's citizenship.
Last month, The Wire reported on how the Gurugram Police detained hundreds of Bengali-speaking migrant workers from West Bengal and Assam – most of whom are Muslim – on the suspicion of them being Bangladeshi citizens living in India without the required documents. People were detained despite many of them possessing Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards and, in some cases, even passports issued by the Government of India. All were later released except ten individuals whom the police claimed were 'confirmed Bangladeshis'.
Following the crackdown, large numbers of Bengali-speaking migrant workers fled to Assam and West Bengal, fearing police action and harassment. In Gurugram's Khatola village – a neighbourhood that housed around 2,000 Assamese workers – most residents have fled to their villages in Assam.
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A copy of the May 2 MHA directive was obtained by the All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ), a pan-India association of lawyers and law students.
AILAJ has called on the Union home ministry to withdraw this 'unconstitutional and illegal' directive, which they say allows the detention of individuals solely on suspicion of being foreign nationals. It has demanded that such detentions be stopped altogether and urged the courts to intervene to halt what it sees as a violation of constitutional rights.
They said the May 2 directive is part of a broader assault on citizenship and the rights of working people, particularly Muslims and non-Hindi-speaking communities. It linked the Gurugram crackdown to other measures such as the verification drive in Assam, sudden voter roll revisions in Bihar, forced evictions, imposition of Hindi and the institutionalisation of Islamophobia through laws and media narratives.
Legal scholar Mohsin Alam Bhat, who recently released a report titled 'Unmaking Citizens: Architecture of Rights Violations and Exclusion in India's Citizenship Trials' which argues that India's citizenship tribunals have transformed into instruments of exclusion, told The Wire in an interview this month that the detentions outside Assam – including in Gurugram and NCR – are worse than Assam. 'There is no process here,' he said. 'This is a system built on distrust and suspicion. A police official sitting in Haryana can decide who's an Indian just by looking at their faces or hearing them speak.'
The Trinamool Congress has accused the Union government of evading questions on the detentions. The party alleged that the Union home ministry under Amit Shah had earlier directed BJP-ruled states to profile Bengali speakers, brand them as 'Bangladeshis' and push them out, making the Union government equally accountable for the harassment, detention and deportation of innocent workers.
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