Supreme Court Seeks Centre, States’ Reply on Migrant Worker Detentions
The Supreme Court of India will soon hear a petition highlighting alleged arbitrary detention of Bengali Muslim migrant workers on unverified claims of illegal entry into the country.
The petition, filed by the West Bengal Migrant Workers Welfare Board, alleges that workers from West Bengal are being indiscriminately detained, often targeted due to their religion or language, and wrongly labelled as Bangladeshi nationals. It claims this violates the fundamental right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, as well as constitutional principles of equality and fraternity.
The plea also challenges a letter issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in May 2025, which authorised inter-state verification and detention of suspected undocumented immigrants. The petitioner argues that this provision is being misused to harass innocent workers.
Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Prashant Bhushan told the court that many of those detained are later verified as Indian citizens, with some even brought back after wrongful deportation.
Justice Surya Kant acknowledged the need to prevent genuine illegal entry but stressed the risks of random detentions. He suggested issuing identity cards mentioning the worker’s place of origin and streamlining the verification process between states.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi proposed creating a nodal agency to improve coordination between workers’ home states and the states they work in, thereby reducing confusion and misuse. Bhushan also pointed out that the Foreigners Act does not permit such indiscriminate detentions.
The court did not pass an interim order but issued notices to the Centre and the states of Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and West Bengal, seeking their responses. The matter will be heard again on 25 August 2025.
