Is speaking Bengali a ground for deportation, SC asks Centre to clarify

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday sought a clarification from the Centre whether speaking Bengali was being used as one of the grounds for deportation of individuals but agreed with the Union govt that border forces had the right to repulse entry of illegal migrants as they pose a danger to the nation's demography, security and strain its resources.

For the West Bengal govt's migrant workers' welfare board, advocate Prashant Bhushan told a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that people are being deported just for speaking Bengali, without any verification of their citizenship by authorities or through a tribunal. "India can't push out anyone out of the country without following due procedure to determine their citizenship. Those pushed out face bullets from both sides, border forces of India and Bangladesh," he said.

Ask for IDs of those you are deporting, says SC bench

They are caught in a crossfire. This is per se illegal and violative of the right to life," he said. The bench said, "Security forces have a right to repulse illegal migrants. Only if the person is on Indian soil that the procedure is to be followed...We will request the Centre to clarify its stand whether speaking Bengali is a ground for deportation. Is there a bias among officials to treat persons speaking a certain language as foreigners?" Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said, "Obviously speaking Bengali is not a ground for deportation."

"However, India cannot be the world's capital for illegal migrants. Why is no individual petitioning SC? Why organisations are coming forward. There are states which are promoting illegal migrants to come in and settle in India. It is very disturbing that a systematic racket is going on to facilitate illegal migrants to enter a border state," he said and drew the court's attention to massive problems faced by European countries because of the influx of illegal migrants.

The bench agreed that illegal migrants are a problem and said, "They pose threat to the nation's security, integrity and demography as well as a strain on its resources. It is a serious international issue and very complicated too. However, In West Bengal and Punjab, the people on either side of the border speak the same language and share culture. So, language alone could not be the tool to identify foreigners."

The bench said, "Pushing back illegal migrants is not an issue. But those whom you are deporting, you must ask for their identity proof." Mehta said those affected by deportation should complain to the court and they could be provided with legal aid to present their case. "Illegal migrants are facing serious problems in the US. Bhushan should go there to assist them," he snidely remarked.

Referring to reports of a wall built at the US-Mexico border, the bench asked, "Are you going to build a wall at the border like America?" Mehta said India is fencing the border with Bangladesh and the matter was supervised by SC to stop illegal immigration.