Alarming to see people deported for speaking Bengali: West Bengal to Calcutta High Court

The West Bengal government told the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday that it is alarming that people in Delhi are being deported to Bangladesh for speaking Bengali [Bhodu Sekh v Union of India & Ors]. 

Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay appeared for the State of West Bengal before a Division Bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra and argued that the Delhi Police cannot detain people for speaking Bengali.

“This is a family from Birbhum district... Who will decide if someone is Bangladeshi? Not the police, but the appropriate authority… All these cases, I have gone through the reports, it is very alarming,” he said. 

The Court was hearing a Habeas Corpus petitions filed by the family members of Birbhum migrants deported to Bangladesh last month.  

Bandyopadhyay demanded that the Central government tell the High Court about the number of people deported to Bangladesh. 

The counsel appearing for the Central government challenged Bandyopadhyay’s assertion, stating that no person has been deported because they were speaking Bengali. 

He further said that the family members of those deported have also approached the Delhi High Court but that fact has been concealed here. 

The Bench pulled up the petitioner’s counsel for hiding this fact, warning that the Court process cannot be misused. 

“Don’t play tricks on us,” the Bench said. 

Ultimately, the Court ordered the Central and the State government to file affidavits in the case and listed the matter for a later date.