By Scroll Staff
Four workers from West Bengal’s Murshidabad, who were detained in Chhattisgarh more than a month ago on suspicion of being undocumented Bangladeshi migrants, were released from a holding centre on Wednesday, The Hindu reported.
They were among the 23 migrant workers who were detained in Bilaspur on September 4. The workers, who were in Chhattisgarh looking for work and selling goods door-to-door, were picked up from their residences in Chunchiapara-Ganesh Nagar under the Sirgiti police station area.
Nineteen of them were released on September 19 after the authorities verified their names in voter lists, administrative records, family details and permanent residence documents of West Bengal.
The remaining four – Sabir Sheikh, Safikul Islam, Nasiruddin Sheikh and Laltu Sheikh – were released from a holding centre in Raipur around 9 pm on Wednesday, reported The Hindu.
The action came two days after the Calcutta High Court asked the authorities in Bilaspur how they could determine the citizenship of the four men while an appellate tribunal in West Bengal was still hearing their appeals against the deletion of their names from the electoral roll during the special intensive revision.
“If your authority is telling that he is not an Indian, so what will the appellate authority do?” Justice Krishna Rao asked. “You are playing with people.”
After being released, one of the four men told The Hindu that all of them were “so surprised”.
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