Kolkata, Oct. 5 -- The Calcutta High Court on Monday questioned how the Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) in Chhattisgarh, who is also the Superintendent of Police in Bilaspur, could determine the nationality of four Bengal residents when their appeals against SIR-related deletion of their names were pending before the Murshidabad appellate tribunal.
Justice Krishna Rao raised the issue while hearing a petition concerning four residents of Murshidabad detained in Bilaspur for more than a month on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals.
The court questioned the apparent overlap between the FRO's role and that of the SIR appellate tribunal, asking what purpose the appeals would serve if another authority simultaneously decided the detainees' nationality.
"If your authority is telling that he is not an Indian, what will the Appellate Authority do?" the court observed, calling the situation contradictory.
The court noted that the SIR appellate tribunals were constituted following Supreme Court directions to provide a forum for those whose names were deleted during the electoral roll revision.
The petition was filed by Mostakim Sheikh of Hiranandapur in Samserganj on behalf of Nasiruddin Sheikh, Laltu Sheikh, Safikul Islam and Sabir Sheikh. Their counsel submitted that they possessed documents establishing their Indian citizenship. He said the parents of all four were listed in the 2002 electoral rolls and that they had voted in the 2026 Assembly elections.
The court directed the counsel to implead the Chhattisgarh FRO as a party and submit a report by October 8. The matter will be heard the same day.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.