a day ago
Man labelled Bangladeshi reunited with kin after being pushed into Bangladesh
Amir Sheikh, 21, broke down when he saw his father, Jiyem Sheikh, and uncle, Ajmal Sheikh, at West Bengal's Basirhat police station on Wednesday night after the ordeal of being labelled a Bangladeshi, suffering torture, and being pushed into Bangladesh. The three were meeting for the first time since April 3, when the 21-year-old left their village in West Bengal's Malda district to work as a construction worker. Amir Sheikh with his father, Jiyem Sheikh, and uncle, Ajmal Sheikh. (Sourced)
Amir Sheikh said he was picked up in Rajasthan's Sikar, called a Bangladeshi, and sent to Bangladesh through the border at Phoolbari in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. He said he was beaten up. 'I have a severe headache, and my whole body is in pain.' He said the Border Security Force (BSF) pushed him into Bangladesh before he was allowed to return.
The West Bengal Police on Wednesday handed over Amir Sheikh to his family. 'He is still in trauma and can hardly speak. He is unable to understand and speak properly. He was crying inconsolably. Even I could not hold back my tears,' Ajmal Sheikh said over the phone.
Five petitions were filed in the Rajasthan high court in May, alleging Indian nationals were detained as part of the drive to identify undocumented Bangladeshis launched on April 29 amid strained India-Bangladesh ties since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's removal from power last year. Amir Sheikh was picked as part of the drive and handed over to the BSF in West Bengal.
Ajmal Sheikh said that they lost touch with Amir Sheikh after the Rajasthan Police detained him. They came to know about his ordeal from a video posted on social media last month that showed him crying.
Amir Sheikh was heard saying in the video that he spent two months in detention before he was brought to West Bengal in handcuffs and handed over to the BSF. 'I am from Kaliachak in Malda district. I have my parents, two brothers, and a sister back home. I have no one in Bangladesh.'
The video prompted Jiyem Sheikh to move the Calcutta high court with a habeas corpus, which allows a challenge to the legality of detention or imprisonment, essentially compelling authorities to bring a person before a court to determine if their imprisonment is lawful.
His lawyer, Raghunath Chakraborty, told the Calcutta high court on Wednesday that Amir Sheikh's documents were seized in Rajasthan, held in custody for two months, and handed over to the BSF, who pushed him to Bangladesh.
The BSF maintained that Amir Sheikh inadvertently crossed the border into Bangladesh. 'He was held while returning from Bangladesh. He could not produce any documents. He was then handed over to the local police station,' deputy solicitor general Rajdeep Majumdar told the court.
Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker and West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board chairman Samirul Islam slammed the BSF and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 'First, the crime. Then denial. And even after getting caught, an attempt to cover it up,' he wrote on X. He added that the BSF is now claiming that Amir Sheikh was never 'deported'. 'Then what happened? How did he end up in Bangladesh? Don't worry—they have another explanation. They claim Amir 'inadvertently' went to Bangladesh on his own! Just imagine!'
Amir Sheikh's case came to light against the backdrop of the allegations of torture and return of a large number of migrant workers from the BJP-ruled states amid a drive to identify undocumented Bangladeshis.
In July, chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that Delhi Police tortured a toddler and his mother, Sanjanu Parveen, from West Bengal's Malda district on July 26. Bengal minister Firhad Hakim presented Parveen before the media in Kolkata on July 30, two days after the Delhi Police called the charges 'fabricated' and 'politically motivated.' Parveen filed a complaint against the Delhi Police in Kolkata.
The TMC circulated a video in which a migrant worker was heard accusing the Delhi Police personnel of demanding ₹5-7 lakh from the detained migrant workers for their release. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the allegation.
A Delhi Police letter seeking help to translate some documents in 'Bangladeshi language' to Hindi and English surfaced this month, and prompted TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee to call it the BJP's another calculated attempt to defame Bengal, undermine their cultural identity, and equate West Bengal with Bangladesh for narrow political propaganda.
The BJP has maintained that no police in any state were harassing genuine Indian nationals and that the drive is against illegal migrants.
