West Bengal CM hails Supreme Court’s intervention on detention of migrant workers

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (August 29, 2025) lauded the intervention of the Supreme Court on a public interest litigation on the detention of migrant workers from the State in parts of the country and said that the development comes as a huge relief to the detained workers.

“A direction has been issued to hear the plea of the migrant workers on priority in the High Court – this comes as a huge relief to the detained workers. The recognition of Bengal’s unique context gives hope to countless Bengali-speaking workers across our motherland, whose labour and sacrifice strengthen families across India,” Ms. Banerjee posted on social media.

Hearing a petition on the detention of a group of Muslim workers from West Bengal, over suspicion of their being Bangladeshi citizens, the Supreme Court on Friday (August 29, 2025) sought a clarification from the Union as to whether Bengali-speaking migrants were detained as foreigners only because of the use of a particular language.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi issued notice on an interim application filed by the petitioners seeking to restrain the respondent authorities from deporting any person without first ascertaining their citizenship.

The Supreme Court said that the issue before this Court is different and has no bearing on the writ petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus before (Calcutta) High Court and urged the Court “to immediately take up the [case] and pass appropriate orders”.

One particular petition before the High Court is the alleged detention and pushing back of Sunali Bibi, who is eight months pregnant and her family into Bangladesh. The family hails from Birbhum in West Bengal.

The Chief Minister also added that she “repose full faith in the judiciary to ensure dignity, fairness, and constitutional justice for every worker from Bengal”.

The PIL before the Supreme Court of India was filed by the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board. The chairperson of the board, Samirul Islam, said that the legal battle will continue until Sunali Khatun and all other Indian citizens who are pushed back into Bangladesh are repatriated to their homeland.

“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for standing with the migrant workers. Without her support they would have not been able to resist the onslaught by the agencies who have detained and pushed them into another country. Their only fault was that they were speaking in Bengali,” Mr. Islam said.

Thousands of migrant workers from West Bengal were detained in several states on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. Some migrant workers were pushed into Bangladesh. While a few people were repatriated to West Bengal after the intervention of State police, some returned after the family approached the Calcutta High Court.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a scheme ‘Shramashree’ which will provide a financial support of ₹5,000 per month for a year to migrants who return from other States. About 22 lakh migrant workers from the State are working in other states.