Kolkata, July 10 -- The Calcutta High Court has sought additional documents to establish the citizenship of a 46-year-old man whose family alleges he was detained and branded a Bangladeshi despite his appeal against deletion from the electoral roll still awaiting adjudication before a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Appellate Tribunal.
Hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Nasir Molla's cousin, a division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi on July 9 asked the petitioner to place further records before the court.
According to the petition, Nasir has been kept at the Lalgola Padma Bhaban holding centre since June 18 after police allegedly detained him on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi national. His family contends that he possesses Aadhaar, PAN, voter identity and other documents, had voted in previous elections and owns property in West Bengal.
The petitioner claimed Nasir's name was deleted during the 2026 SIR exercise and that he subsequently challenged the deletion before the Appellate Tribunal, where the matter remains pending. The state, however, informed the court that Nasir had allegedly admitted during questioning that he was born in Bangladesh's Rahimpur and had entered India illegally about 14-15 years ago.
The petition alleges no competent forum had declared him a foreigner and contends that any move to deport him without such determination would violate constitutional safeguards. The family has denied the state's allegation and maintains that Nasir is an Indian citizen who was wrongfully detained.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.