Calcutta HC seeks affidavits from Centre, Bengal and Delhi govts on deportation of Bengali migrant family
The matter will be heard next on August 6.
A division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra issued the directions after being informed that parallel proceedings on the same matter were pending before the Delhi High Court — details that had not been disclosed in the current plea.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Raghunath Chakraborty submitted that the whereabouts of the detained family remain unknown.
Delhi Police counsel Dhiraj Trivedi told the court that a writ petition had been filed in Delhi High Court challenging the deportation, but was dismissed after the deportation was carried out. 'They were deported in June, that is in the Delhi High Court order. The matter is pending in that High Court. They have suppressed the facts in this court,' he said.
Additional Solicitor General Ashok Chakraborty, appearing for the Union government, submitted: 'If the order of deportation is executed, how is there a habeas corpus?'
Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing the West Bengal government, said, 'Let them (the Centre) file how many Bengalis have been detained and how many Bengalis have been pushed back (into Bangladesh).'
The court expressed displeasure over the petitioners not disclosing that they had already approached the Delhi High Court.
After the order was dictated, Banerjee told the bench: 'Who will decide (who is to be detained)? The appropriate authority is not the police or constable. You cannot pick up someone just because they are speaking Bengali. There are procedures. These three or four cases are very alarming.'
The bench also orally asked during the hearing whether there was any basis to allegations that Bengali-speaking people were being picked up and deported from various states 'suddenly' in June, though no formal order was passed on this point.
The ASG submitted that under the Foreigners Act, individuals without valid passports or visas can be deported.
Responding to that, the Deputy Solicitor General told the court, 'After the Pahalgam attack, people in Kashmir were also rounded up, and everyone was released. People speaking Bengali were not picked up and deported. Hundreds were rounded up, but most were released.'
According to Bhodu Sheikh of Birbhum, his daughter Sunali Khatun, son-in-law Danish Sheikh, and their minor son were deported by officers of the K N Katju Marg police station under Delhi's Rohini police district on June 26.
He claimed the family had travelled to Delhi on May 5 and were detained on June 18. Anjela Bibi, a relative from Murarai in Birbhum, also alleged that the family — who worked as waste pickers — were picked up from Bengali Basti in Rohini's Sector 26, along with three others from Birbhum.
As per entries in a Delhi Police general diary, the detained persons allegedly told police they were from Bagerhat, Bangladesh. They were subsequently handed over to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), and later to the Border Security Force (BSF), before being deported.
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