KOLKATA: Calcutta high court asked the Union government on Wednesday to file an affidavit explaining the rationale behind the "sudden" countrywide raids in June targeting Bengali-speaking people as potentially illegal Bangladeshi migrants .
"What were the reasons? Was this pre-planned?" a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra said while hearing multiple habeas corpus petitions on the allegedly illegal detention of Bengali-speaking migrants in Odisha and six people being "pushed into Bangladesh".
"Let these issues be cleared. Else, it will send out a wrong message. This could be a wrongful act. Allegations have been made that people are being illegally deported to Bangladesh just because they speak Bengali," it said.
HC also sought affidavits from the Bengal government and Delhi Police over the deportation of a family of three from Birbhum to Bangladesh.
State's senior counsel Kalyan Bandyopadhyay said speaking Bengali couldn't be grounds for suspicion that the person is an illegal immigrant. "You can't detain and deport anyone for speaking Bengali. There is a procedure," he said, seeking to know how many such people had been held or deported.
Delhi Police's counsel Dhiraj Trivedi said nobody had been deported for speaking Bengali. "Around 165 people in Kashmir, including some who spoke Bengali, had been arrested after the terrorist strike on tourists in Pahalgam, but everyone was released."
The Centre's counsel, Asoke Chakraborty , wondered whether a writ of habeas corpus could be filed after a deportation order had been issued. There was also an argument over identical habeas corpus petitions being filed in both Delhi and Kolkata. Petitioners' counsel Raghunath Chakraborty said the kin of those deported had no knowledge of the case pending in Delhi HC.
"Don't try to play tricks. Was it not your duty to ascertain whether they had earlier moved any other court? Do you think our orders are just scraps of paper? What sort of conduct is this?" Justice Chakraborty responded.
"What were the reasons? Was this pre-planned?" a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra said while hearing multiple habeas corpus petitions on the allegedly illegal detention of Bengali-speaking migrants in Odisha and six people being "pushed into Bangladesh".
"Let these issues be cleared. Else, it will send out a wrong message. This could be a wrongful act. Allegations have been made that people are being illegally deported to Bangladesh just because they speak Bengali," it said.
HC also sought affidavits from the Bengal government and Delhi Police over the deportation of a family of three from Birbhum to Bangladesh.
State's senior counsel Kalyan Bandyopadhyay said speaking Bengali couldn't be grounds for suspicion that the person is an illegal immigrant. "You can't detain and deport anyone for speaking Bengali. There is a procedure," he said, seeking to know how many such people had been held or deported.
Delhi Police's counsel Dhiraj Trivedi said nobody had been deported for speaking Bengali. "Around 165 people in Kashmir, including some who spoke Bengali, had been arrested after the terrorist strike on tourists in Pahalgam, but everyone was released."
The Centre's counsel, Asoke Chakraborty , wondered whether a writ of habeas corpus could be filed after a deportation order had been issued. There was also an argument over identical habeas corpus petitions being filed in both Delhi and Kolkata. Petitioners' counsel Raghunath Chakraborty said the kin of those deported had no knowledge of the case pending in Delhi HC.
"Don't try to play tricks. Was it not your duty to ascertain whether they had earlier moved any other court? Do you think our orders are just scraps of paper? What sort of conduct is this?" Justice Chakraborty responded.
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