The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the chief secretary of West Bengal to coordinate with the Odisha government over the detention of over 400 people, mostly from West Bengal, on suspicion of being illegal Bangladesh migrants.
Hearing two habeas corpus petitions filed by the families of two West Bengal residents, the Division Bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra enquired whether the West Bengal government has contacted the Odisha government, and also wanted to know on what basis the migrant workers were detained in Odisha.
One petition was filed by Nasima Mondal, mother of one Rakhibul Islam Mondal, a resident of Hariharpara in Murshidabad. Another petition was filed by Rajjak Shiekh, also a resident of Hariharpara, for his son Sainur Islam. Both Rakhibul and Rajjak were allegedly detained by Odisha Police from Jagatsinhpur in the last week of June.
Seeking judicial intervention under Article 226 of the Constitution, the families claimed that they had not been produced before any court of law after 24 hours of their detention, thereby violating their fundamental rights.
According to the petitioner, despite producing valid documents, including Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration card, the Odisha Police did not take them into consideration.
“The matter is that they (the petitioners) are migrant labour citizen of this country who went to Odisha for a considerable period of time, and they were arrested and kept in detention centres. Their whereabouts are not known. They are illiterate and belong to the downtrodden community of Hariharpara,” the counsel representing the families said.
“They have been arrested on the basis of linguistic minority since they speak Bengali. Since their arrest, they have not been produced in any court, nor a custody memo or any communication to the family has been made… This is illegal detention. Our submission is that they be produced immediately and that the detention is declared illegal, and compensation and disciplinary action be taken against those who are doing all this,” the counsel added.
On enquiry by the Bench, Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the West Bengal government, said: “The State is ready to provide whatever help is required. There is no official communication.”
Dutta asked the court to order the appointment of a nodal officer to coordinate “with appropriate people in the place where they are detained”. “The West Bengal government will appoint an officer or ADG(Additional Director General) who can be deputed from our side to coordinate with the nodal officer,” Dutta added.
Odisha Police on Wednesday said that 444 people have been detained during recent raids in Jharsuguda and added that those submitting required valid documents would be released. A senior officer of Odisha Police said the individuals lacked valid documentation to establish their residency or citizenship, necessitating a thorough verification process to ascertain their identity.
Seeking their release, the West Bengal government said the detained people hail from various districts of West Bengal, including Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda, and Purba Medinipur.
Last week, West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant wrote a letter to his Odisha counterpart over the detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers, saying it was “deeply distressing”. Seeking a stop on harassment faced by people from Bengal, he wrote: “What is even more concerning is that, even when these persons produce valid identity documents… In many instances, they are being asked to produce ancestral land records dating back several generations, an unreasonable and unjustifiable demand for migrant workers,” he had added.