By Scroll Staff
A Muslim man who had been detained on suspicion of being an undocumented Bangladeshi citizen and sent to a detention centre in June was released from jail on Tuesday, his cousin told Scroll.
Jalil Akhtar, a resident of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal, secured bail on Monday, his cousin Matiur Rahman said.
He had been picked up from his home on June 19. His family had told Scroll that there was no basis for police to suspect that he was a Bangladeshi citizen. They said Akhtar’s name appeared in the electoral rolls prepared after the special intensive revision in both 2002 and 2026.
Since he was detained, the police made at least one attempt to deport him, according to a report filed by the Dalkhola police in the Uttar Dinajpur court on August 1.
Akhtar was kept at a temporary holding centre in Nizampur “and all biometric and deportation formalities were completed”, the report said. He was handed over to the Border Security Force on July 4 and asked to be deported.
Having failed to force him out, the police had filed a suo moto case against him under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, alleging that he had entered the country without a valid passport, travel document or visa.
Akhtar’s family members told Scroll that they have submitted land records from 1967, in his father Roshan Ali’s name, to the police. But in its report, the police said that Akhtar could not produce any documentary evidence to prove that he was Ali’s son.
On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress leader Samirul Islam asked “who will take responsibility for such inhumane treatment of a poor person?”
“Will the higher authorities not take steps against those who are behind such torture and harassment of a poor fellow?” he asked on social media. “Will those police officers not be punished for their wrongful actions?”
This story was originally published in scroll.in. Read the full story here.