KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday expressed concern over the timing and intent of what it called a nationwide drive to identify Bangladeshi nationals, questioning why the operation appeared to be conducted simultaneously across the country.
“What is the reason behind this? Is it a premeditated drive? There are allegations that people speaking in Bengali are detained?” Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty remarked during the hearing.
“I would request you to inform us about this matter. If this is not done, a wrong message may be sent out. There may be a wrong step. For example, there are allegations that people are being detained for speaking Bengali and sent to Bangladesh,” Justice Chakraborty told the counsel representing the Centre.
A division bench comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Mitra sought affidavits from the state government and Delhi Police over the deportation of a father, mother, and their eight-year-old son from Birbhum district to Bangladesh. This came after the Delhi Police counsel submitted that the family had already been deported.
State counsel Kalyan Bandyopadhyay argued, “Anyone speaking in Bengali can’t be deported. Who will decide? The appropriate authority is not the police or the constable. You can’t detain and deport anyone on the grounds that he speaks in Bengali. There are procedures.”
Bandyopadhyay also demanded clarification on how many Bengali-speaking individuals had been detained so far, and how many among them had been deported to Bangladesh.
Senior counsel for the Delhi Police, Dheeraj Trivedi, denied the allegations. “None is being deported on the ground that they speak in Bengali,” he said. Recalling the Pahalgam incident, Trivedi stated: “Around 165 people in Kashmir had been arrested after the incident, including those who spoke in Bengali. Everybody was released.”
The bench directed the filing of affidavits after being informed by the Centre’s counsel that the habeas corpus plea before the Calcutta High Court had allegedly suppressed the fact that a similar petition had already been filed in the Delhi High Court by relatives of the deported family.
The bench also pulled up the petitioners’ counsel, who submitted that the current habeas corpus writ had been filed by relatives unaware of any case pending before the Delhi High Court.
The petitioners maintained that the deported individuals were Indian citizens. To this, Justice Chakraborty ordered: “Produce all the documents in support of their citizenship before the court during the next hearing on August 6.”