Rights activists warn Bengali Muslims face expulsion from India
Fact-finding team says Bengali Muslim citizens are being detained as suspected Bangladeshis and risk being forced across border
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Human rights activists have raised alarm over the detention and possible forced expulsion of Bengali-speaking Muslims from India to Bangladesh, saying authorities in West Bengal have targeted residents as suspected foreigners despite some possessing Indian identity documents.
Around 10 people have been detained in recent months in the Suti area of Murshidabad district in cases involving reported attempts to force them across the Bangladesh border, according to The Observer Post.
A fact-finding team that investigated the cases has questioned whether authorities are bypassing legal safeguards for determining citizenship.
The delegation, comprising rights activists, social workers and academics, visited Suti on Sept. 14 after receiving reports that local Muslims were being picked up as suspected Bangladeshis and transferred to Border Security Force facilities or immigration holding centers.
Among the cases investigated was that of Ibrahim Sheikh, an elderly resident whom activists said police had taken away shortly before their visit.
The delegation said local police told them such people were being “detained” on the basis of specific information rather than formally arrested. Because authorities did not consider them under arrest, activists said, standard arrest documentation was not being issued.
Those detained could then be transferred to border authorities or holding centers while their nationality was examined.
The activists said they were told that people unable to establish Indian citizenship within a specified period could be classified as Bangladeshis and potentially sent across the border.
They expressed concern that Sheikh had already been classified as Bangladeshi and could have been expelled. His current whereabouts could not be independently established.
Kiriti Roy, convenor of rights group Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), said preventing unauthorized entry was a legitimate state responsibility but warned that police and security forces could not themselves determine that an Indian had lost citizenship.
“Police or security forces cannot unilaterally decide to revoke someone’s citizenship or push them back without the judicial process of a competent tribunal or court,” Roy said.
The reported detentions have generated fear among Bengali-speaking Muslims in the area that possession of Indian documents may not prevent them from being treated as foreigners, activists said.
Rights groups are demanding that authorities disclose where detainees are being held, what evidence is being used to question their citizenship and whether they are given an effective opportunity to challenge such determinations before being expelled.
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