West Bengal CM instructs authorities to hand detained ‘infiltrators’ directly over to BSF

He says the DGP will be required to send a weekly statistical brief on the total number of such detainees to his office

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said Bangladeshi “infiltrators” will be turned over straight to the Border Security Force (BSF) for repatriation, completely bypassing judicial proceedings, from now.

The new administrative policy took effect on Wednesday across the Indian state, according to Indian media reports.

Briefing journalists at the Howrah district magistrate’s headquarters on Thursday, the chief minister said the law-enforcing apparatus, including the local police commissionerate and the Railway Protection Force (RPF), had already received clear directives to execute the order, reported The Economic Times.

"Since Wednesday, the new rule has come into effect under which infiltrators will not be sent to courts but handed over to BSF outposts at the Bangladesh border," the New Indian Express quoted Suvendu as saying.

Under this framework, apprehended “infiltrators” will no longer be forwarded to the judiciary, he explained.

Instead, they are to be transferred directly to BSF outposts located along the Bangladesh frontier, he added.

The policy shift follows an announcement made by Suvendu on Wednesday, where he laid out a strategic blueprint termed "detect, delete, and deport" aimed at identifying and expelling undocumented immigrants via state police operations.

While Suvendu did not explicitly mention the specific legislation anchoring this sudden administrative shift, Indian media outlets reported that the newly formed BJP state administration appears to be leveraging the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.

Passed by the Indian Parliament in April last year, the statute outlines a technologically advanced, modernised approach toward monitoring, registering, detaining, and deporting foreign nationals.

Suvendu said he also instructed authorities to ensure the detainees are provided meals before being transported directly to BSF officials stationed at border checkpoints.

To ensure strict compliance with the newly introduced guidelines, the chief minister added that the Director General of Police (DGP) will be required to compile and send a weekly statistical brief on the total number of such detainees to the Chief Minister’s Office.