The Calcutta High Court has questioned the legal basis for the continued detention of four migrant workers from Murshidabad who were detained in Chhattisgarh on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals.
The issue came up before Justice Krishna Rao on Monday during a hearing concerning the workers’ appeals against the deletion of their names from West Bengal’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The four men had approached the appellate tribunal constituted to hear such challenges.
Court Questions Parallel Citizenship Process
The court questioned how the Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) at Bilaspur, who is also the Superintendent of Police, could proceed with determining the citizenship of the four men while their appeals against the electoral roll deletions were still pending before the designated appellate forum.
Justice Rao questioned whether authorities were effectively conducting a parallel citizenship determination while the SIR appeals remained unresolved. The court also questioned whether authorities were “playing with people” when a legal mechanism was already available to challenge the deletion of names from the electoral rolls.
The hearing focused on the relationship between the SIR appellate process and the action being taken against the four workers in Chhattisgarh.
Four Workers Remain in Custody
The case concerns migrant workers from Suti, Raghunathganj and Shamsherganj in Murshidabad who had travelled to Chhattisgarh for work. Their families said the workers had been living there for several years and earning a livelihood as hawkers.
According to the families, police picked up 23 workers from the Chunchiapara-Ganesh Nagar area under Sirgitti police station in Bilaspur district on the night of September 4. The families said the workers produced documents including voter cards, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards when questioned about their identity.
Nineteen of the 23 workers were released after around two weeks in detention, while four remained in custody. Reports have identified the continuing detainees as workers whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR process.
Families Challenge Electoral Roll Deletions
The families have argued that the continued detention of the four workers is connected to the deletion of their names from the electoral rolls.
They have maintained that appeals against the deletions are already pending before the SIR appellate tribunal and that the outcome of those proceedings should be considered before any further action is taken against the workers.
The High Court’s intervention comes amid questions over whether deletion from an electoral roll can be treated as sufficient grounds for a separate determination of citizenship while the deletion itself remains under challenge.
Political Dispute Over Detention
The matter has also drawn political attention. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam has alleged that the workers were being harassed and subjected to discriminatory treatment because they are Bengali-speaking migrant workers.
“This is the real picture and face of the anti-people BJP government — who are harassing poor people due to divisive and dirty politics,” Islam wrote on social media.
He said he was continuing to pursue the matter concerning the four Murshidabad workers and expressed confidence in the judiciary.
