‘We will approach court to bring them back': Families of migrants pushed into Bangladesh lodge missing diary with Bengal police
Danish Sheikh, his wife Sunali Khatun, and their eight-year-old son — natives of Paikar village — were allegedly deported to Bangladesh on June 26, days after being picked up by the Delhi Police. The family said they had been working as ragpickers in Delhi for the past 20 years.
According to the family, the deportation was carried out despite them allegedly submitting documents to prove their nativity of Bengal.
On Sunday, Sunali's father, Bhodu Sheikh, lodged a missing diary at the local police station. He said Danish, Sunali, and their two children had left for Delhi from Paikar on May 5. 'Since July 4, we have not been able to contact them,' he said.
The Migrant Labour Welfare Board in West Bengal said it would help the family move the Calcutta High Court with a habeas corpus plea.
'This is happening every day. Our migrant labourers and their families are being targeted as illegal Bangladeshis simply because they speak Bengali… We will appeal to the court to intervene, bring the family back to India and present them before the court,' said Samirul Islam, chairman of the board.
'I have filed a missing diary at the local police station. Tomorrow we plan to go to Calcutta High Court. My daughter, her husband and their eight-year-old son were detained by Delhi Police and pushed into Bangladesh. My daughter has made frantic calls from Bangladesh,' said Bhodu Sheikh, speaking to The Indian Express from Birbhum.
Family members claimed Danish, Sunali and their minor son were detained on June 18 by the police and taken to the K N Katju Marg police station in Delhi.
'All documents, including land deeds, were provided to the police. But they didn't budge,' said Sunali's cousin Roshni Bibi, speaking over the phone from Delhi. 'Their second child, a girl, was not detained as she was staying with a relative.'
However, the Delhi Police maintained that the family was deported after due process. 'They were deported to Bangladesh on June 26 after proper verification at the local police level and a thorough interrogation by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. They hail from Bagerhat, Bangladesh,' Rajeev Ranjan, DCP (Rohini), told The Indian Express earlier.
The case comes amid a spate of similar incidents in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. On June 14, seven persons from West Bengal were allegedly detained by Mumbai Police and deported by the BSF at around 3:30 am. Following intervention by the Bengal government, four youths from Murshidabad, one from Purba Bardhaman, and a married couple from North 24 Parganas were brought back from Bangladesh and sent home.
Ravik Bhattacharya is the Chief of Bureau of The Indian Express, Kolkata. Over 20 years of experience in the media industry and covered politics, crime, major incidents and issues, apart from investigative stories in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Andaman Nicobar islands. Ravik won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2007 for political reporting.
Ravik holds a bachelor degree with English Hons from Scottish Church College under Calcutta University and a PG diploma in mass communication from Jadavpur University. Ravik started his career with The Asian Age and then moved to The Statesman, The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. ... Read More
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