On the intervening night of June 19 and 20, Jalil Akhtar, an elderly Muslim man, from West Bengal’s Bagroi village in Karandighi block of Uttar Dinajpur district, was woken up from sleep and picked up by Dalkhola police from his home, his family alleged. Other members of his household, sleeping in the same home, came to know of his arrest only the next morning.
The 66-year-old man, whose name appeared in both the 2002 and 2026 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) lists, was allegedly arrested on grounds of ‘being a Bangladeshi’, his family told Alt News. After spending nearly three months in various holding centres and judicial custody, when Akhtar was produced before additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) of Islampur court on Wednesday, September 2, the investigating officer of the case gave a written declaration that identity documents submitted by Akhtar were valid.
However, Akhtar has not yet been granted bail, the court is expected to hear the matter next on September 10.
During his nearly three-month-long incarceration, Akhtar was kept in two holding centres, and then lodged in Islampur jail, until, his family claimed they were told he would be deported to Bangladesh. They further alleged that during the entire duration, police failed to prove that Akhtar’s citizenship and legal documents were fake, raising questions over why the arrest was made in the first place when his name appeared in the latest SIR list.
“My brother is an Indian, we have all the documents and he has never even seen the Bangladesh border. Yet, he was arrested, kept in holding centres and jailed on a mere suspicion of being a Bangladeshi, which the police could not even prove. Was he held for so long just because we are Muslims and live in a border district with significant Muslim population?” asked Motiur Rahaman, Akhtar’s cousin.
‘Picked up at night without family being informed’
According to his family and locals, Akhtar slept on a cot in front of his single-room home. His wife, Taufa Bibi, woke at dawn on June 20 to find him gone. She initially assumed that he might have gone to offer ‘Fazr Namaz’, but began to panic when she found his kurta hanging from the family closet.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.