Dear Reader,

While India was still locked in a conflict with Pakistan in May, police forces in several Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states began a crackdown on “undocumented migrants” from Bangladesh.

Thousands of Bengali-speaking workers were rounded up and questioned. Hundreds were quietly flown to the border and pushed across in the dead of night, allegedly at gunpoint.

Among them were Mehebub Sheikh, a mason working in Mumbai; Amir Sekh, a construction worker based in Rajasthan; and Sunali Khatun, a domestic worker living in Delhi.

We travelled to villages in West Bengal to investigate whether these individuals were, in fact, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh or Indian citizens wrongfully deported.

Their families showed us land records, some dating back to pre-Independence India, to prove their deep roots in the country.

We found that had the police followed the Ministry of Home Affairs’ instructions, these families might have been spared this ordeal. Moreover, the process followed by the police to determine citizenship was highly inconsistent.

Mehebub, for instance, was asked to produce his birth certificate because his voter ID was deemed insufficient. But when 19-year-old Amir presented his birth certificate to the Rajasthan police, they insisted on seeing his voter ID instead.

In Delhi, Sunali was declared a Bangladeshi for lack of a birth certificate. Yet, in Birbhum, we met Bhagirathi Ravidas, the frail 62-year-old midwife who helped deliver Sunali.

Mehebub and Amir are now back in India, but their families are afraid to let them leave West Bengal for work. Sunali, who is pregnant, remains in Bangladesh, where she has been arrested as an “illegal infiltrator”.

Reporting these stories has not been easy. Fear, silence and surveillance are real challenges. But we have pushed forward, driven by our belief in the importance of independent journalism.

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With gratitude,
Raghav Kakkar & Anant Gupta