Suvendu Adhikari's government in West Bengal has set up detention centres in the districts of Malda and Murshidabad to temporarily hold illegal immigrants before deportation.
Both Malda and Murshidabad border Bangladesh and have significant Muslim population. On Monday, nine people were detained in Malda and two in Murshidabad.
"This is not a new law. This is the existing foreigner’s act. These people should go. It is their responsibility to take in Bangladeshi nationals,” said Chief Minister Adhikari on Tuesday.
“They are Bangladeshis, they should be taken in, but we told the police there is no need to send them to jail. They will get food, medicine, clothes. They are opportunists. Go away quickly else the government will do what it has to,” added Adhikari in line with his ‘detect, delete, deport’ diktat.
The chief minister was referring to the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 1946, and its amended 2025 version, along with the Union Home Ministry’s May 2025 directive. The directive called for the formation of a Special Task Force (STF) to identify and deport illegal immigrants, particularly Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals.
The BJP had promised to implement these measures in its election manifesto ahead of the recently concluded Assembly elections, accusing the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of failing to enforce the directive.
In its first Cabinet meeting, the new state government also committed to providing land to the Border Security Force (BSF) within 45 days for fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border. On May 20, the state handed over 27 kilometres of land for fencing work. In addition, 43 acres of purchased land across various districts, along with 31.9 acres of vested land, were transferred to the BSF.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to visit border areas in West Bengal in June, along with three other states, to review border security arrangements.
The chief minister had earlier directed all 23 district magistrates (DMs) to establish detention centres to house suspected illegal immigrants, including Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, until deportation. Unlike Assam, where suspected foreigners are produced before Foreigners’ Tribunals, detainees in West Bengal will reportedly not be presented in court.
This has raised concerns about the possibility of Indian citizens being wrongly identified and deported as Bangladeshi nationals.
One such case involved Sunali Khatoon, a 25-year-old resident of Birbhum district who worked as a ragpicker in Delhi. In June 2025, she was deported to Bangladesh along with her husband, Danish Sheikh, and their eight-year-old son after authorities suspected them of being Bangladeshi nationals. Sunali was pregnant at the time.
The TMC criticised the Centre over the incident, and the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court. The court directed the Union government to bring Sunali back to India on humanitarian grounds after it was established that she was an Indian citizen. She later gave birth in January.
What are these holding centres?
In 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it had prepared a “Model Detention Centre/Holding Centre/Camp Manual,” which was circulated to all states and Union Territories.
According to the guidelines, detention centres must provide facilities necessary to maintain “a standard of living in consonance with human dignity.” These include electricity, drinking water, hygiene facilities, accommodation with beds, sufficient toilets with running water, communication facilities, and kitchen provisions.
The guidelines also mandate medical facilities and special care for women, nursing mothers, and children.