Calcutta HC asks Centre if there is truth to claims about Bengali-speaking persons being deported

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3 days ago

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday asked the Union government if there was truth to the claims that Bengali-speaking persons were being deported to Bangladesh, The Indian Express reported.
'Why suddenly in June?' the newspaper quoted a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra as having asked. 'There is an uproar in the state that Bengali-speaking people are being deported.'
Over the past month, Indian authorities have been pursuing a policy to 'push' individuals claimed to be undocumented migrants into Bangladesh. Many of those forced out of the country claim that they are Indian citizens.
The bench made the remarks verbally while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by the relatives of Sunali Khatun, a woman from West Bengal's Birbhum district who was allegedly deported to Bangladesh by the Delhi Police. Her husband, Danish, and their five-year-old son were also allegedly deported.
The police had picked up Khatun and her family on June 20 from a settlement of Bengali migrants in Delhi's Rohini. According to two police statements seen by Scroll, the three were held in a detention centre. On June 23, they were produced at the Foreigners' Regional Registration Office in Delhi.
Another family was detained along with them. A deportation order against the two families was issued by the FRRO the same day.
According to the police, they were tipped off by an informer, who identified Danish as 'a Bangladeshi national'. The police also claimed that Danish had 'confessed' to being a Bangladeshi citizen.
On June 26, they were 'pushed' into Bangladesh, according to a statement of the station house officer of the KN Katju Marg police station in Rohini and an order of the FRRO.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the counsel for the Delhi Police told the court that Khatun's family was deported to Bangladesh in June, The Indian Express reported.
The counsel noted that the matter was pending in the Delhi High Court and sought a dismissal of the habeas corpus petition.
The petitioners had 'suppressed the facts in this [West Bengal] court', the counsel claimed.
The counsel said that the Delhi High Court had been told that the family was deported on orders from the FRRO. Following this, the petitioners withdrew the habeas corpus application and filed a fresh petition in that court against the FRRO orders, the police said.
The bench expressed displeasure at the non-disclosure of the facts by the petitioners, The Indian Express reported.
However, it directed the Centre, the Delhi government and the West Bengal government to file affidavits in connection with the arrest of the family.
The Union government was asked to file its affidavit by July 28. The court said that the petitioners must file their reply to the government's affidavit by August 4.
The matter will be heard next on August 6.
Meanwhile, Kalyan Banerjee, the counsel representing the West Bengal government, also sought an affidavit from the Centre on how many Bengalis had been detained and forced into Bangladesh, The Indian Express reported.
'Who will decide [about detention]?' the newspaper quoted him as having asked the court. '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-four cases are very alarming.'
India has forced more than 2,000 persons, alleged to be undocumented migrants, into Bangladesh since the country launched ' Operation Sindoor ', a military operation against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The legality of the 'push back' policy has been debated in India and internationally. Experts have told Scroll that the policy violated India's obligations under international law and customary international law.
In June, four men from West Bengal, who had been picked up by the Maharashtra Police and forced into Bangladesh, were brought back on June 15. The Murshidabad Police in West Bengal had presented proof of them being Indian citizens.