Four migrant workers from Murshidabad were released from a holding centre in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday night, shortly before a scheduled Calcutta High Court hearing, after being detained for more than a month on suspicion of being Bangladeshi citizens.
The workers—Shafikul Islam, 39, Sabir Sheikh, 42, Nasiruddin Sheikh, 35, and Laltu Sheikh, 28—were released from the Chhattisgarh police holding centre at about 9 pm, according to Anandabazar. They had been among 23 Bengali-speaking workers detained by Bilaspur police on September 4 in the Chunchiyapara-Ganeshnagar area under Sirgitti police station.
Nineteen of the workers were released on September 18 following an order from a local civil court. The remaining four continued to be held because their names were absent from electoral rolls and their applications before a tribunal constituted by the Supreme Court were still pending.
The four workers had travelled from Samserganj and Shahabad in Murshidabad to Chhattisgarh in search of work. They sold household goods from door to door. Their families later approached the Calcutta High Court after the workers remained in detention while the tribunal proceedings concerning their electoral-roll applications were pending.
The court criticised the Chhattisgarh administration during a hearing on October 5. Justice Krishna Rao questioned how the Bilaspur superintendent of police, who also serves as the Foreigners Registration Officer, could determine the workers’ citizenship while their applications remained before the tribunal.
The judge also questioned the implications of an executive authority declaring that people were not Indian citizens while an appeal or tribunal process was still underway. “If the authorities say that some people are not Indian citizens, what will the appellate authority or tribunal do?” Justice Rao asked, according to the report. He also questioned whether the Election Commission was “playing with ordinary people”.
The workers’ applications were linked to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The report said the names of the other 19 workers had been restored to the voter list in April, while the applications of the four released workers were still under consideration.
After his release, Shafikul Islam said the workers had lost hope of being freed. He told Anandabazar that they were informed of the decision when they reported to guards after dinner on Wednesday. According to him, the release order stated that the workers were not Bangladeshi but Indian citizens.
The case also exposed an administrative gap between the two states. The Chhattisgarh administration had sought an identity-verification report from the Murshidabad district magistrate, but the report said West Bengal authorities had not sent it. The workers’ families then moved the High Court for relief.
The episode highlights the consequences migrant workers can face when identity verification, electoral-roll disputes and detention procedures overlap across state jurisdictions. The immediate issue before the court was not only the workers’ release but also the authority of officials to act while a statutory or tribunal process remains pending.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Samirul Islam criticised sections of the bureaucracy on social media, saying officials should work impartially and that helping citizens was an administrative responsibility rather than an act of charity. The next stage of the matter will depend on the proceedings concerning the four workers’ pending applications and the court’s further consideration of the administrative record.
