Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who do not come under the purview of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and are arrested by railway police from Howrah station must not be produced before a court but sent directly to border outposts in North 24-Parganas, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Thursday.
Muslims are not among the religious categories of persecuted people from neighbouring countries who can apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA.
“Police commissioner ke ebong RPF ke directly bole dewa hoyechhe Howrah station theke CAA aaota-ey poren na emon Bangladeshi oboidho anuprabeshkari dhora porle court-ey paathaben na. Takey bhalo kore khawa-dawa koriye soja Bongaon-Petrapole shimante, noile Basirhat-ey BOP-er kaache pouchhe dewar byabostha korben,” the chief minister said in Howrah.
A translation: “The police commissioner and the RPF (Railway Protection Force) have been directly instructed not to produce before a court an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, not under the purview of the CAA, caught at Howrah station. They should be fed well, and arrangements must be made to send them straight to a border outpost either on the Bongaon border or in Basirhat).”
The border outposts are manned by the BSF. Suvendu did not elaborate on the plan of action after such “illegal immigrants” are sent to the border posts. On Wednesday, the chief minister had said his government would start detecting illegal Bangladeshis, detaining them and handing them over to the BSF to be deported.
On Thursday, Suvendu addressed reporters after chairing an administrative meeting in Howrah with senior officials of various departments and their counterparts in the railways in the presence of the district magistrate and the commissioner of Howrah city police.
Suvendu said the police should send a weekly report of illegal immigrants handed over to the BSF to the chief minister’s office (CMO) through the director-general of police.
The chief minister’s directive to the Howrah police and their counterparts in the railways left a section of senior officers wondering whether the law allowed them to directly hand over people branded as illegal immigrants to the BSF, bypassing the courts.
“If a Bangladeshi national is arrested for either entering India without valid documents or overstaying, the person is usually booked under the provisions of Section 14(A) of the Foreigners Act, 1946, and produced before a court,” a senior officer of the state police said.
The officer added: “Who will decide whether a Bangladeshi national has entered illegally or overstayed in India beyond their permit? The court. It can’t be the discretion of the law-enforcing authorities.”
Section 14(A) deals with unauthorised entry into restricted, protected,or prohibited areas of India. This carries a stricter penalty of two to eight years of imprisonment and fines ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹50,000.
At an event to hand over land to erect 27km of fencing along the Bangladesh border to the BSF on Wednesday, Suvendu had said the Bengal government would start detecting illegal Bangladeshis, detaining them and handing themover to the border forces for deportation.
“The Indian government sent an order on May 14, 2025, asking the Bengalgovernment to identify Bangladeshi immigrants and hand them over to the BSF for deportation,” Suvendu hadsaid.
“We will be implementing the order... arresting all such illegal immigrants and handing them over to the BSF,” he said.
Senior officers of the Howrah police and the railways said that over the pastfew years, several Bangladeshi nationals had beenarrested in and aroundHowrah station for alleged illegal entry into India and possessing forged identity documents.
In May 2025, Shibpur police and residents had detained Faruk Sheikh after he arrived at Howrah station from Mumbai.
He had allegedly crossed into India illegally a year before.
In April 2025, Golabari police arrested Abdullah and Farida Begum following what they described as “suspicious behaviour” outside Howrah station.
The couple had allegedly entered India unlawfully and visited Odisha and Mumbai without valid traveldocuments. “Over the years, Howrah and Sealdah railway stations have remained important transit points for illegal infiltrators fromacross the border. Alerts about suspected infiltrators using the stations to reach other parts of the country from Bengal keep coming quite frequently,” a senior Bengal police officer toldThe Telegraph.