Punjab & Haryana High Court orders probe into arbitrary detention of Bengali migrant workers in Gurugram, emphasizing that detention centers must maintain humane conditions during verification.
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Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has announced that it will hear next week a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the alleged arbitrary detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in Gurugram. The case raises serious questions about the treatment of migrants and the adherence to humane standards during administrative verification processes.
Court’s Observation
The Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry, emphasized the importance of humane conditions for detainees.
“Those places they are kept… if that does not have humane conditions, you tell us… we will direct that. Homes should have humane conditions,”
Chief Justice Nagu stated while listing the matter for hearing next week.
While stressing humane treatment, the Court also clarified that police authorities are entitled to carry out necessary verification to establish the nationality of individuals.
“You (migrant workers) have to be subjected to that verification to find out whether you are an Indian national or not,”
Chief Justice Nagu added.
The petitioner, activist Nirmal Gorana, argued that the issue was not the verification itself but the process and manner in which it was being conducted. He stated that the police appear to have been granted arbitrary powers, allowing them to detain individuals without proper supervision or justification.
“Police cannot pick up anybody. There has to be some basis on which that suspicion is arrived,”
Gorana stressed.
He further highlighted that the detentions largely affected certain religious and linguistic minorities, particularly Bengali-speaking migrant workers, and were often based on mere suspicion over nationality.
The petitioner’s counsel also noted that many of those detained are bona fide Indian citizens, with verification from the West Bengal Police supporting their Indian nationality.
During the proceedings, it was revealed that the detentions are being carried out on administrative instructions, without registering any criminal offenses. A counsel representing the Haryana government, however, maintained that some of the detainees “belong to Bangladesh.”
