At least nine Muslim men and two children have been detained in West Bengal since June over allegations that they are Bangladeshi nationals, with families claiming they were taken from their homes without being given adequate opportunity to establish their Indian citizenship, an investigation by Scroll has reported.
Most of those detained are from Murshidabad district, which shares a border with Bangladesh.
According to the investigation, several of the arrests took place during late-night raids. Relatives alleged that police personnel did not show arrest warrants, remand orders or copies of first information reports when taking the men away. In some cases, FIRs were reportedly filed weeks after the detentions.
The cases have emerged amid heightened scrutiny of alleged illegal migration from Bangladesh in West Bengal.
Families say citizenship documents were ignored
One of the cases concerns 61-year-old Ibrahim Sheikh of Ramakantapur village in Murshidabad.
Sheikh was taken from his home shortly after midnight on July 29, according to his daughter-in-law Parbin Khatun. She said several men in civilian clothes arrived at the house and asked Sheikh to produce identity documents.
After he showed his Aadhaar and voter cards, the men allegedly questioned whether he was Indian or Bangladeshi.
Khatun said Sheikh maintained that he was an Indian citizen, but the men claimed they had information suggesting otherwise and took him away.
The family subsequently approached the Suti police station with documents including pension records, land papers and Sheikh's voter card. They were not permitted to meet him and were later informed that he had been transferred to a detention centre.
The family says it has since been unable to determine his whereabouts.
At least four people among those detained had reportedly passed scrutiny during the Election Commission's recent special intensive revision of electoral rolls. Sheikh's appeal concerning his electoral status remains pending before an election tribunal, according to Scroll.
Deportation attempts reported
The investigation also found cases in which authorities allegedly attempted to deport detainees to Bangladesh.
In one case, 67-year-old Jalil Akhtar from Uttar Dinajpur district was detained on suspicion of being Bangladeshi. Police records cited by Scroll say he was subsequently handed over to the Border Security Force for deportation.
Akhtar reportedly maintained that he was an Indian citizen, after which the BSF returned him to police custody.
Police later registered a case against him under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, alleging that he was a foreign national who had entered India without valid travel documents.
His relatives produced land records dating back decades, while police questioned whether the documents established his relationship with his father.
The police inquiry also referred to Akhtar's inability to speak Bengali as one of the circumstances considered during the investigation. His family, however, speaks Surjapuri, a language used in parts of the Bihar-West Bengal border region and in Uttar Dinajpur's Islampur area.
Children among those detained
Another case involves Abdul Jabbar of Murshidabad, who was detained along with his two sons, aged eight and six.
Jabbar's adoptive father told Scroll that police accused him of being Bangladeshi and initially asked the family to provide his documents.
The family says Jabbar possesses an Indian passport, voter card and other records. Police later produced a Bangladeshi birth certificate issued in 2022, which the family disputed.
Jabbar had also been included in the electoral rolls following the special intensive revision and had voted in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, according to the report.
His wife, Jumman Bibi, said police later told her that Jabbar and the two children had been sent to Bangladesh. She said she last spoke to her husband on August 28 while he was being held at the Ahiran detention centre.
Delayed FIRs questioned
Another detainee, 28-year-old Sahin Sheikh, was taken from his home in Murshidabad's Budher Kismat village on June 14.
His wife said police accused him of being Bangladeshi despite his claim that he was born and had always lived in India. She said the family presented land records and a government-issued ration card, but police did not accept them.
A suo motu FIR was reportedly filed against Sheikh 20 days after his detention. According to his lawyer, the case relied partly on a photocopy of a Bangladeshi birth certificate found among his belongings, but the document had not been authenticated.
The lawyer has called for authorities to verify Sheikh's Indian voter card, school and panchayat certificates and land records.
Police defend action
Police officials have rejected allegations that the detentions were unlawful.
A senior officer at Suti police station said Ibrahim Sheikh's detention was carried out under a government executive order and that an FIR was not required.
Jangipur Superintendent of Police Surinder Singh said the authorities had acted according to government guidelines and claimed that Sheikh's family knew he was Bangladeshi.
Rights activists and lawyers have disputed the police position, arguing that people accused of being foreign nationals should be subjected to due legal procedures and given an opportunity to challenge the allegations.
Human rights activist Jakir Hussain said the practice of taking people into detention without producing them before a court raised serious legal concerns.
Political backdrop
The detentions have also drawn attention because of remarks made in May by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who said suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators should be handed over directly to the BSF for deportation rather than being taken through court proceedings.
Adhikari also said that Hindu migrants eligible for citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, would not be targeted.
One detainee's family further alleged that police personnel made communal remarks during the detention, claiming that Hindus would receive preferential treatment compared with Muslims. The allegation could not be independently established by the report.
Several families are now pursuing legal remedies. Ibrahim Sheikh's family has approached the Calcutta High Court through a habeas corpus petition, while lawyers representing other detainees are also preparing or pursuing challenges to their detention.
The cases have raised questions over how citizenship claims are being assessed and whether detainees are being given sufficient legal opportunity to contest allegations that they are foreign nationals.
