West Bengal detains Muslims over Bangladesh nationality claims

At least nine men and two children have been picked up from their homes in West Bengal since June on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals and sent to detention centres, according to an investigation by Scroll.

Most of those detained are from Murshidabad district, which borders Bangladesh.

Their families said the police took them away in midnight raids without showing arrest warrants, remand orders or first information reports (FIRs).

In at least two cases, police allegedly attempted to send the detainees to Bangladesh. However, the Border Security Force (BSF) refused to accept at least one of them after he insisted that he was an Indian citizen.

The detentions come amid increased scrutiny of Muslims in West Bengal over allegations of illegal migration from Bangladesh.

Picked up in midnight raids

One of those detained is Ibrahim Sheikh, 61, from Murshidabad's Ramakantapur village. Police took him from his home around 12:30am on 29 July, his daughter-in-law Parbin Khatun said.

According to Khatun, seven or eight men in civilian clothes arrived at their home and asked to see Sheikh's identity documents. After he showed his Aadhaar and voter cards, they asked him, "Are you Indian or Bangladeshi?"

Sheikh told them he was Indian, but the men said they had information that he was a Bangladeshi national, Khatun said.

The family later took Sheikh's pension papers, land documents and voter card to Suti police station, but were not allowed to meet him. Police later told them that he had been sent to a detention centre.

Khatun said the family has since visited police offices and detention centres but has been unable to locate him.

At least four of those detained had passed scrutiny during the Election Commission's recent special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, according to Scroll. Sheikh's appeal against his exclusion from the SIR is pending before an electoral tribunal.

The detentions have followed a similar pattern, with most people picked up in midnight raids without warrants, remand orders or FIRs. In some cases, police filed suo motu FIRs weeks later.

Police records show that the BSF refused at least one attempt to deport a detainee.

Since May last year, several Muslim migrant workers from West Bengal have also been picked up in BJP-ruled states as alleged Bangladeshis and pushed across the border by the BSF. In at least two cases, the Supreme Court later ordered their return.

But this is the first time Bengali Muslims have faced similar scrutiny in their own state.

"The scariest thing is that police are randomly picking up people and sending them to detention centres without producing them before the court, which is both illegal and anti-constitutional," said Jakir Hussain, a Murshidabad-based human rights activist with the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights.

Police cite government order

Ibrahim Sheikh's family has moved the Calcutta High Court seeking his whereabouts.

On 25 August, his 81-year-old mother Hanifa Bewa filed a habeas corpus petition asking the state to trace Sheikh and produce him in court.

The government, however, said Hanifa is not his biological mother.

His lawyer Md Nur Hossain Zamadar said she is his maternal aunt who adopted him.

Zamadar called the detention unlawful, saying the family had received neither an arrest memo nor an FIR. He said they also have a 1946 land deed showing they lived in India before Independence.

Police rejected the allegations, saying Sheikh was detained under a government executive order and did not require an FIR. Jangipur SP Surinder Singh said the action followed government guidelines and that the family knew Sheikh was Bangladeshi.

Rights activists, however, said detaining people as Bangladeshis and pushing them back without investigation was illegal.

Activists also linked the action to a May statement by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari that suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators should be handed directly to the BSF for deportation instead of being produced before courts.

Suvendu said Hindu migrants eligible under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 would not be targeted.

Khatun also alleged that police officials who took Sheikh away made communal remarks, saying Hindus would be treated favourably even if they came from Bangladesh, while Muslims would be kept "under our feet".

'The government has changed'

Jalil Akhtar, 67, was picked up from his home in Uttar Dinajpur's Bahrai village around midnight on 19 June on suspicion of being Bangladeshi.

His family said the allegation was baseless, pointing to his name on electoral rolls after the 2002 and 2026 SIRs and land records in his great-grandfather's name.

When relatives questioned police, they were allegedly told, "You cannot argue with us now. The government has changed."

Police attempted to deport Akhtar before filing an FIR a month after his detention, according to a police report. He was handed to the BSF on 4 July but returned to police custody after insisting he was Indian.

Police later filed a suo motu case under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, accusing him of entering India without valid travel documents.

His family submitted 1967 land records in his father Roshan Ali's name, but police said he could not prove Ali was his father.

They also cited his inability to speak Bengali, although his family speaks Surjapuri, a mix of Hindi, Maithili and Bengali spoken in the Bihar-West Bengal border region and Islampur.

Over three lakh people in Islampur registered Surjapuri as their mother tongue.

Akhtar's cousin Matiur Rahman alleged police were targeting Muslims and told him, "We have just started. We have 500 names on our list."

'They have broken up a family'

Eleven days after Ibrahim Sheikh was picked up, Suti police raided a home in nearby Nurpurdiyar village around 12:30am and took away Abdul Jabbar, 35, accusing him of being Bangladeshi.

Jabbar's adoptive father Jamirul Sheikh said he had adopted him from his maternal grandparents 26 years ago. Police also took Jabbar's two sons, Ahad, 8, and Jiad, 6, while his 11-month-old son remained with his mother.

Police initially asked the family to submit Jabbar's documents, promising to release him, but later showed them a 2022 Bangladeshi birth certificate. Jamirul called it fake.

Jabbar has an Indian passport, a birth certificate issued by Nupur gram panchayat and a voter card. Scroll has seen the documents.

He was also included in the electoral rolls after the latest SIR and voted in the last Assembly elections.

Born in India in 1990, Jabbar grew up with his adoptive family after being raised by his maternal grandparents until he was eight. His family said they were not given a chance to prove his citizenship.

His wife Jumman Bibi, 26, was hospitalised after suffering seizures and losing consciousness following his detention. Her brother said her two sons were missing.

Jumman said police told her that Jabbar and the children had been pushed into Bangladesh. She last spoke to Jabbar on 28 August when he was at the Ahiran detention centre.

Murshidabad-based activist Jakir Hossain said cross-border marriages were common in the 1990s before fencing was installed.

FIR filed weeks after detention

Sahin Sheikh, 28, was picked up from his home in Murshidabad's Budher Kismat village during a midnight raid on 14 June after police accused him of being Bangladeshi.

His wife Amina Khatun said Sahin told police he was born and had lived in India all his life. Police allegedly refused to accept his 2003 land deed and state-issued ration card.

Sahin was excluded from this year's electoral roll after the SIR, but has appealed against it before the Election Commission's appellate tribunal.

He was later moved to the Lalgola detention centre. Amina said police also attempted to push him into Bangladesh.

Police filed a suo motu FIR 20 days later, on 6 July, after the alleged deportation attempt failed, according to his lawyer Mohammed Abu Raihain.

The FIR says police received information that Sahin was Bangladeshi and found a photocopy of a Bangladeshi birth certificate in his bag. Raihain said the document has not been authenticated.

He said the case was based on unverified claims and urged the court to verify Sahin's voter card, panchayat and school certificates and land documents.

Families challenge detentions

Murshidabad-based advocate Sahin Mandal said police action in several such cases violated constitutional provisions.

Jibon Sheikh, one of his clients, was taken away on the night of 26 June by Murshidabad police.

Mandal said Sheikh had documents including a voter card and school certificate, but police refused to accept them. He had also voted in the recent Assembly elections after being included in the SIR.

Since then, Sheikh's wife Farida Bibi, 27, has been trying to secure his release from the Lalgola holding centre.

She said her husband even had an identity card issued by the West Bengal government showing that he was a fish trader.

Farida said she had used up her savings over the past three months to keep the family running. The couple has three children, the eldest aged 13.

Advocate Selim Sheikh, who is representing Sheikh, told Scroll that the family had still not received an FIR copy or any other order more than two months after his detention. He said they planned to move the Calcutta High Court challenging the detention.