"Detention To Continue": Top Court Refuses Ban On Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to order an interim stay on the alleged detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers over suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals, saying such a directive may have consequences, especially with respect to people, who genuinely came from across the borders.

"What if an infiltrator enters illegally? If you don't detain, the writing on the wall is that they will disappear," a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said, even as it agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) against the alleged detention. 

"States where these migrant workers are working have the right to inquire from their state of origin about their bonafide but the problem is in the interregnum. If we pass any interim orders, then it will have consequences, especially those who have illegally come from across the border and need to be deported under the law," it added. 

It, however, issued notices to Centre and nine states and sought their responses on the petition filed by the West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board, which alleged that the migrant workers are being arbitrarily detained and deported under a May 2025 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) circular. 

The court asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the board, to wait for sometime for the responses from the Centre and the Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and West Bengal governments.

Advocate Bhushan alleged that people are being harassed by the states just because they speak Bengali language and have documents in that language on the basis of a circular issued by the home ministry.

"They are being detained while an inquiry is being held about their bonafide and in some cases, they are even tortured. Kindly pass some interim order that no detention will be held. I have no problem with enquiries but there should not be any detention," he said.

The bench said some mechanism needs to be developed to ensure that genuine citizens are not harassed.