New Delhi: The Supreme Court has not stayed but issued notice on a public interest litigation on the detention of Muslim migrant workers from Bengal over the claim that they are Bangladeshi in several states.

LiveLaw has reported that a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi heard the matter and called for the responses of the Union government as well as Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, UP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Bengal.

The PIL was filed by the West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board, which has alleged that following a circular by the Union home ministry, issued in May, various state authorities have been picking up Bengali Muslim migrant labourers, alleging that they are Bangladeshi, and detaining them.

The Wire has reported how a May 2 circular – unavailable online but widely reported in the media – by the the MHA's Foreign Division, outlined for the chief secretaries of all states and union territory administrations, along with state police chiefs and those of the Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, and Coast Guard, the process of deporting undocumented Bangladeshi nationals and the Rohingya.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for the Board, said that after verification, almost all such workers were found to be Indian citizens. Last month, The Wire reported on how the Gurugram Police detained hundreds of Bengali-speaking migrant workers from West Bengal and Assam – most of whom are Muslim – on the suspicion of them being Bangladeshi citizens. All were later released except 10 whom the police claimed were “confirmed Bangladeshis”.

Bhushan highlighted that in some cases, they were even sent out of the country and brought back to India after verification. The Wire has reported on the ordeal of those who have been pushed into Bangladeshi territory and later brough back in this manner.

"Delhi police is saying their documents are in Bangladeshi language, there is no Bangladeshi language...it's Bangla," Bhushan said.

Bhushan noted that the detention and torture of migrant workers is causing panic across the country. "Foreigners' Act does not authorise govt to detain people over suspicion that they are foreigners," he noted.

To this, Justice Kant said that there needs to be a nodal agency to coordinate between state of origin and state where they have gone for livelihood.

LiveLaw also quoted Justice Kant as having expressed concern over how to deal with the situation of someone coming to India "illegally".

"Suppose someone has come illegally in India, how to deal with that situation? If they don't detain, he will disappear. Some mechanism required for bonafide workers...either state of origin can issue some kind of card...and local police accept it as prima facie proof of his having come for livelihood...," he said.

Read The Wire's series on migrant workers here. 

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