A 43-year-old Muslim fish trader from West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district was sent to Bangladesh after being detained on suspicion of being an undocumented Bangladeshi migrant, despite holding an Indian passport and voter identity card, his family said, reported Scroll.
Abdul Barek, a resident of Gopalpur village, was detained by Raiganj police in June, according to his son Jahidul Islam.
The family said Barek’s name was included in the electoral rolls after the special intensive revision (SIR) of voters in West Bengal. He also voted in the 2026 state assembly elections, they said.
Barek has an Indian passport issued in 2021. His family shared copies of the passport, voter identity card and electoral-roll entry.
Police first took Barek to the Bhatol police outpost on June 2 after visiting his village and asking about his identity documents, Islam said.
“My father was sitting at a shop near our house when a police party came and took him away,” Islam said. “I went with all the documents and he was released after document verification.”
Police later told Barek to appear at the station if he received a summons, his son said.
About two weeks later, Barek was summoned again and detained, Islam said. He was initially taken to Raiganj police station and later shifted to a detention centre, he added.
This time, the family alleged, police did not examine his documents.
“Police did not check our papers at all. They did not even talk to us. They were taking him away forcefully,” Islam said.
Several days later, the family received a phone call from Bangladesh and learnt that Barek had been sent there, his son said.
“It has been more than two and a half months that we have not seen him,” Islam said. “We do not know where he is or how he is spending his days in Bangladesh.”
Islam said police told the family that Barek had been “proved to be” a Bangladeshi national.
“I asked them to show the document proving he is Bangladeshi, but they did not show any documents,” he said.
The family maintains that Barek was born in India and has lived there all his life.
“He has a passport and even voted in the 2026 assembly elections after his name was included in the SIR,” Islam said.
Barek is the main source of income for a family of around 23 people. He earns a living through fish farming and also owns land, his family said.
His removal has left the family facing financial difficulties and uncertainty over his whereabouts, Islam said.
The inspector-in-charge of Raiganj police station declined to provide information, citing the Official Secrets Act, and asked that questions be sent by email. An email seeking a response was sent to the police. No reply had been received at the time of publication.
The case came to light after human rights organisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha approached the West Bengal home department seeking intervention over what it described as Barek’s “illegal arrest, unlawful detention and unexplained disappearance”.
The organisation also sought disclosure of Barek’s current whereabouts.
Kirity Roy, the organisation’s secretary, said the family’s immediate concern was to know where Barek was.
Roy said a dispute over Barek’s citizenship should be settled through due process and appropriate legal safeguards.
The case comes amid increased scrutiny over the detention and deportation of Bengali-speaking people, many of them Muslims, on allegations that they are undocumented Bangladeshi migrants.
Since the April 2025 Pahalgam attack, police in several states have detained Bengali-speaking people and asked them to establish their Indian citizenship, according to rights groups and media reports.
Some people have subsequently been sent to Bangladesh and later returned to India after authorities established that they were Indian citizens.
In May, after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in West Bengal, the state government announced plans to set up holding centres for alleged undocumented migrants as part of its “detect, delete, deport” policy.
According to Scroll’s reporting, at least 17 Muslim men and two children have been detained by West Bengal Police since June on allegations that they were Bangladeshi nationals. Barek is the latest case reported by the publication.
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