A couple from Birbhum, who had been working in Delhi for the past five years, were detained by the police in the national capital last month and allegedly pushed back to Bangladesh along with their five-year-old son, on suspicion of being Bangladeshi infiltrators.
The development is a fresh addition to the recent series of deportations of Bengali-speaking Indian migrant workers to Bangladesh, prompting the ruling Trinamool Congress dispensation to plan a larger movement on this alleged harassment.
Family members said that Danish Sheikh, 26, his wife Sonali Khatun, 24, and their five-year-old son Sabir were detained from their rented accommodation in the Rohini area of New Delhi on June 18.
"When we met the Delhi police, they informed us that the family were Bangladeshis and would be deported to 'their own country'. We brought all relevant documents and requested them to verify our ancestral home in Birbhum. They assured us the family would be released soon," said Roshni Bibi, one of the cousins of Sonali, who also lives in Delhi.
"Last week, when we met the police again, they informed us that the trio had been sent to Bangladesh and threatened us with similar consequences if we took any further steps in the matter," a frightened Roshni claimed.
Roshni said that Sonali had recently called her using someone else's phone and informed her that they were currently near Dhaka and "somehow surviving with the help of a kind-hearted local resident".
She claimed that three other persons from their village, who were detained along with her cousin and her family, were also deported to Bangladesh.
Earlier, the Bengal government had put pressure on the BSF and ensured the return of seven migrant workers — including a couple from Bagda in North 24 Parganas — who were detained by Maharashtra Police and handed over to the BSF, who allegedly pushed them back to Bangladesh.
Samirul Islam, the chairman of the state's migrant workers' welfare board and a Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, has been in touch with the families of those deported.
"I am utterly surprised that the Union government can push back Indian citizens to Bangladesh simply because they are Bengali-speaking. This is nothing but a well-planned mechanism to harass poor people from Bengal who go to other states for their livelihood. I have come to know about this fresh case and am taking up the matter with the authorities concerned," said Islam.
"I urge the educated people from across the country to raise their voice together against such undemocratic practices which we have never witnessed before," Islam added.
Islam said they already moved court in connection with illegal detention in other states, and would take up the fresh case for repatriation very soon.
Last month, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had lashed out against such detentions of Bengali-speaking migrants. She slammed BJP-ruled governments in states and at the Centre over the alleged "pushback" of migrant workers from Bengal to Bangladesh, accusing the administrations of labelling those individuals as Bangladeshis only because they speak in Bengali.