According to reports, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari stated on Thursday that illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators detained in West Bengal should now be handed over directly to the Border Security Force (BSF)—rather than being produced in court—so that they may be expelled from the country. This directive, which according to him came into effect on May 20, has been communicated to both the State Police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
Under the arrangement announced by Bengal’s new BJP government, individuals identified as illegal infiltrators—and who are not eligible for citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)—will be taken directly to BSF border outposts instead of being produced in court.
This move is part of a broader “detect, delete, and deport” strategy, which Suvendu Adhikari has described as Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s strategy for dealing with “Bangladeshi infiltrators.”
In a sense, this step marks a departure from the standard procedure typically followed in cases involving foreign nationals accused of entering India without valid documents.
In 2016, the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, stated in Parliament, “According to available information, there are approximately 20 million (2 crore) illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh currently in India.”
The government has made it clear that illegal infiltrators pose a threat to the country’s security.
Suvendu Adhikari’s announcement comes at a time when the political campaign against illegal infiltration from Bangladesh is steadily intensifying across India, particularly in BJP-ruled states.
The BJP has, on several occasions in the past, accused the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government—led by Mamata Banerjee—of turning a blind eye to illegal Bangladeshi infiltration for the sake of vote-bank politics. The TMC has denied this allegation. Cracking down on “infiltrators” and strengthening border security was one of the BJP’s key electoral planks in the 2026 Assembly elections—a strategy that helped propel the party to power in West Bengal. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has adopted a ‘pushback’ strategy.
In the neighboring state of Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has adopted a similarly tough stance against “infiltrators” in recent months. He stated that the state has initiated a process to expel—or “send back” (pushback)—those declared as foreigners, rather than holding them indefinitely in detention centers. Responding to the diplomatic controversy sparked by this statement, Himanta cited a Supreme Court order and the ‘Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950.’ He argued that district officials are empowered to take action against illegal infiltrators in individual cases without necessarily waiting for a verdict from the ‘Foreigners Tribunal.’
This shared political stance found another moment of expression. A few days after Himanta’s swearing-in ceremony in Guwahati—and around the time Suvendu was assuming office in Kolkata—the Assam Chief Minister shared a photograph with the caption: “(You know for whom) bad days have arrived.”
What exactly were the orders issued by Suvendu Adhikari regarding the expulsion of Bangladeshis from the country?
Speaking to reporters in Howrah on Thursday, Suvendu Adhikari stated that the police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been instructed not to produce certain specific categories of detained Bangladeshi migrants before the courts.
Adhikari said, “The Police Commissioner and the RPF have been explicitly instructed that if illegal migrants arriving from Bangladesh—specifically those who are ineligible to apply for citizenship under the CAA—are detained at Howrah Station, they are not to be produced before the courts.” According to a report by the Kolkata-based newspaper The Telegraph, he further stated, “The individuals concerned should be properly fed and then taken directly to the BSF personnel stationed at the Petrapole border in Bongaon, or to the border outpost located at Basirhat in the North 24 Parganas district.”
The official also directed that a weekly report regarding such detainees be submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office through the Director General of Police (DGP).
Which law is the Bengal government invoking to deport illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from the country?
While announcing this policy, the official did not specifically identify the legal provision under which the state government intends to bypass the judicial route. However, the news agency PTI reported that it appeared Suvendu was referring to the ‘Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025’—a legislation passed by Parliament in April 2025. The objective of this Act is to establish a modern framework for immigration management, registration, surveillance, detention, and deportation.
According to the official, “A new rule has come into effect starting yesterday, under which infiltrators, instead of being sent to the courts, will be handed over to the BSF outposts situated along the Bangladesh border.”
Although legal challenges may eventually reach the courts, Assam is already implementing a similar process, and the Central Government has also further tightened its stance regarding illegal immigration.