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In focus
“When we showed them our voter ID cards and Aadhaar cards, they said it was not enough. They wanted birth certificates and school documents. They even seized our phones and checked for phone numbers from Bangladesh.”
Ajimuddin Sheikh (22), a mason from Birbhum district in West Bengal, was among the migrant workers picked up by the Odisha police near Brajarajnagar in Jharsuguda district. One of several people who have since been released following intervention by Bengal police and the state administration, Sheikh spoke to The Indian Express over phone.
Over 400 migrant workers from West Bengal had been detained on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. Around 50 were later released, some after they could furnish additional documentation, while others said they were let go following the involvement of “local guarantors”.
“We were eight in our group picked up around 1 am on Monday. At first, they seized our phones. They didn’t accept our Aadhaar or voter cards. Later, they returned the phones briefly and asked us to call home and arrange birth and school certificates. We did that. Around 1 am on Thursday, they let us go,” said Noor Muhammed Sheikh (18), a construction worker from Birbhum.
Three others in their group — Pintu Sheikh, Giasuddin Sheikh, and Rajibul Sheikh, all from Murshidabad — remain in detention. “They are in the haircutting business and reportedly had business contacts in Bangladesh. Bangladesh numbers were found on their phones,” claimed Ajimuddin Sheikh.
“We were questioned repeatedly but provided food thrice a day. When released, our phones were returned,” added Nijamuddin Sheikh (18), another member of the group.
For some, release came only after someone local agreed to vouch for them.
Samiul Ansari (31), a construction worker from Hariharpara in Murshidabad, said: “We were picked up three days ago — six of us in total. They checked our documents and interrogated us. Then someone known to us in the area stepped in as a guarantor, promising that we would report to the police if summoned. Only then were we let go at around 2 am Friday.” Ansari’s group has chosen to stay back and continue working.
“Our families were extremely worried. They approached the local police and panchayat in Bengal. We called them after we were released,” he said.
Back in Birbhum district of Bengal, some families breathed a sigh of relief. “All these youths are from villages under Paikar police station. We are relieved they have been released. They’ve worked outside Bengal for years — something like this has never happened before,” said Hasumuddin Sheikh, father of Ajimuddin and uncle of Nijamuddin.
On Thursday, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra, directed West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to coordinate with his Odisha counterpart, Manoj Ahuja, over the detentions.
Samirul Islam, TMC MP and chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Labour Welfare Board, said, “We have already approached the Calcutta High Court about both the detentions in Odisha and workers who are suspected to have been pushed into Bangladesh. Our police and administration are in constant touch with their counterparts in Odisha. The Odisha government has since begun releasing the labourers.”
He alleged, “This is not limited to Odisha. Similar incidents are happening in other BJP-ruled states. In some cases, like in Odisha, they are not even informing us when illegally detaining our residents.”
Asif Faruk, state general secretary of the Parijayi Sramik Aikya Manch, said, “We are working at the grassroots to ensure releases. However, there seems to be no solution to this problem. It has been happening in most states of India for the past three months. Secondly, when the released migrants come back, what will be their livelihood? They have to run families. Where will they go to work next?”
The latest detentions come on the heels of similar actions targeting Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh.
In June, seven individuals from West Bengal — including four from Murshidabad, one from Purba Bardhaman, and a couple from North 24 Parganas — were pushed into Bangladesh after detention in Mumbai, only to be brought back after the Bengal government’s intervention.
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