Petitions filed in Calcutta HC over detention of Bengal workers in Odisha

Kolkata: Two habeas corpus petitions is learnt to have been filed before the Calcutta High Court alleging illegal detention of migrant labourers from West Bengal by the Odisha Police.

The petitions seek urgent judicial intervention and direction to produce the allegedly detained individuals before the court.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, who is also the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, confirmed on Friday that the petitions were moved in response to reports of Bengali-speaking workers being picked up in parts of coastal Odisha without adherence to legal procedures.

“A habeas corpus plea is the last resort when someone is believed to be in illegal custody. We have filed two such petitions before the Calcutta High Court, urging the judiciary to direct the Odisha authorities to produce the detained persons,” Islam is learnt to have told the media.

The petitions allege that the detained individuals, who include daily wage earners, domestic workers, and rickshaw pullers, were not provided custody memos at the time of their arrest — a mandatory legal requirement.

The pleas also raise concerns that the workers were being falsely labelled as illegal immigrants despite producing valid identity documents.

The petitions are likely to be listed for hearing shortly. A single-judge bench is expected to hear the matter, legal sources said.

The move comes a day after West Bengal Chief Secretary Manoj Pant wrote to his Odisha counterpart flagging reports of harassment of Bengali-speaking workers in regions such as Paradip, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Malkangiri

and Cuttack.