Held in Mumbai and deported by BSF, Bengal couple returns home from Bangladesh
Kolkata: The West Bengal police have helped a couple from the state to return home days after they were declared illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by Maharashtra police and deported to the neighbouring country by the Border Security Force (BSF), police officials said.
'Fazal Mondal, a migrant worker, and his wife Taslima were released by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Monday. We took them home safely,' Ganesh Bain, officer-in-charge of North 24 Parganas district's Bagdah police station, told HT.
Fazal Mondal, a resident of Hariharpur village in Bagdah, went to Karnataka in 2024 with his wife in search of livelihood and the couple moved to the Naya Nagar area in Mumbai five months ago. They were arrested on June 10 and deported to Bangladesh on June 14, Mondal's father Tahajul Mondal told the media on Tuesday.
Tahajul Mondal said: 'My son and daughter-in-law were detained at Naya Nagar police station on June 10 and declared illegal Bangladeshi immigrants although they carried documents such as Aadhar and PAN cards. I contacted the Maharashtra police and sent copies of more documents, including a certificate the health department issued after my son was administered polio vaccine when he was a child.'
'They were arrested only because they speak Bengali which is our mother tongue. Can't people speak their mother tongue?' he said.
'On June 14, a man claiming to be a BGB official called us up and said my son and his wife had been deported and we should seek help from our local administration to get them back. We immediately informed the police and sought help from local Trinamool Congress leaders as well,' Mondal added.
BSF did not comment on the couple.
The couple were released by BGB a day after three migrant workers from Murshidabad district and two from East Burdwan district managed to return to India through the Mekhliganj border outpost in north Bengal's Cooch Behar district. These men were held by Mumbai police on June 12 and handed over to BSF, which deported them on June 14. They, too, claimed that they were arrested after they showed documents such as Aadhar and PAN cards.
After these five men were brought back to India on Monday, HT tried to get official comments from BSF's South Bengal Frontier and the North Bengal Frontier headquarters. Emails and reminder e-mails were sent but there was no response.
The Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police denied allegations that Indian nationals have been pushed to Bangladesh. 'After the arrest of an illegal Bangladeshi national for attacking actor Saif Ali Khan, they had received orders from the Home department to conduct a drive against illegal immigrants staying in the region. Based on these orders, the police had conducted a combing operation, identified and detained several illegal immigrants from the region in the past three months,' said Prakash Gaikwad, deputy commissioner of police, Mira Road.
Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Centre over this issue while addressing the state legislative assembly on Monday.
She accused the BJP of launching a 'witch-hunt' against Bengali-speaking Indian citizens in states ruled by the them and labelling these people as Bangladeshi without taking into account valid documents.
(With input from Kanchan V. Chaudhari)
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