‘Want border wall to check illegal immigrants?’
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday in an observation asked the Centre whether it wanted to build a border wall like in the US to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country.
The top court asked the Centre to apprise it about the standard operating procedures (SOP) adopted by the governments in deporting illegal migrants, especially to Bangladesh.
A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Surya Kant, and also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, was hearing a petition filed by the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board (WBMWB) alleging detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, objected to the petition of WBMWB and questioned that why no aggrieved parties were present before the court.
“This court should not entertain such kind of petitions filed by these organisations and associations, which may be supported by some state governments. There are no aggrieved parties before the court. We know how some state governments thrive on illegal immigrants. Demographic changes have become a serious issue,” he said.
The bench, however, told Mehta that it might be the reason that those who aggrieved were perhaps unable to reach the apex court for want of resources. But, Mehta said such “public spirited persons” (without referring to Bhushan) must help them in approaching the court besides helping people in the US where the issue over illegal immigration was big. Bhushan alleged Bengali speaking persons were being picked up and forcefully pushed into Bangladesh.
“This has very drastic consequences... sometimes BSF people say you run to the other side or we will shoot you. Similarly, the Border Guard of Bangladesh, also threatens and says if you don’t run to the other side, they will shoot,” Bhushan said.