Calcutta High Court on Wednesday asked the Union government why it had started identifying Bangladeshi nationals by interrogating Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in several states.

“Why did the Union government suddenly start investigating Bengali migrant workers working in different parts of the country? Is it preplanned? Is it not a matter of surprise?” asked Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, a senior judge of a division bench that was hearing petitions related to the alleged harassment of migrant workers from Bengal by police in different states.

Advocate Dhiraj Trivedi, who appeared for the Centre, replied that the move was not preplanned, but it was carried out following the Pahalgam terror attack.

“After the Pahalgam terror attack, the government started identifying foreign nationals and deporting them to their respective countries. A total of 165 persons were interrogated. Of them, five admitted that they were Bangladeshi nationals,” said Trivedi.

The counsel also said that the five Bangladeshi nationals were produced before a tribunal in Delhi and deported to Bangladesh following the tribunal's order.

“But the family members of those deported to Bangladesh filed a petition in Delhi High Court challenging the tribunal's order. They filed a petition in Calcutta High Court suppressing the fact that they had already challenged the tribunal order in Delhi High Court,” said Trivedi.

The Calcutta High Court, after hearing the counsel of the Union government, asked the Centre to file a report on the prevailing situation based on inputs from all other states on July 28, when the case would be heard again.

The division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra had instructed Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant to contact the Union home ministry to seek details of the alleged deportation and file a report.

Pant submitted his report in a sealed cover.

Kalyan Banerjee, senior lawyer representing the Bengal government, said: “We have come to know that five persons were deported from Delhi. Moreover, Bengali-speaking workers are being harassed by the police in different states.”