Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, May 21: West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has directed state police and Railway Protection Force (RPF) authorities to hand over arrested illegal infiltrators directly to nearby Border Security Force (BSF) border outposts instead of producing them before courts.
The directive, which reportedly came into effect immediately from Wednesday, was reinforced during a meeting held on Thursday with senior police and RPF officials.
According to Adhikari, any person identified as an illegal infiltrator and arrested anywhere in the state, including major railway hubs such as Howrah station, will now be sent directly to the nearest BSF Border Outpost (BoP) after being provided food and necessary assistance.
He said the two key transfer points would be the Benapole-Petrapole border outpost in Bangaon subdivision and another BSF outpost in Basirhat, both located in North 24 Parganas district along the India-Bangladesh border.
The Chief Minister clarified that the policy would not apply to refugees eligible for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Political observers believe the move aligns with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “detect-delete-deport” campaign against illegal infiltration, a position repeatedly highlighted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during election campaigns in West Bengal.
Adhikari also stated that his office would monitor the implementation of the policy through weekly reports from the state Director General of Police on the number of infiltrators arrested and transferred to BSF custody.
One of the BJP’s major campaign themes during the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections was tackling illegal immigration and identifying alleged infiltrators using forged Indian identity documents.
Meanwhile, the state government has also initiated the process of handing over land to the BSF for construction of barbed fencing along unfenced stretches of the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal as part of broader border security measures.