Malda holding center houses 9 ‘Bangladeshis’ under West Bengal’s ‘Find, Delete, Deport’ policy – What is it? Explained | Today’s news
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal on Monday put into practice its ‘Detect, Clear and Deport’ policy, with Malda becoming the first district to set up a detention center for alleged illegal aliens, housing nine suspected Bangladeshis.
The facility, located at English Bazar’s Chandan Park and currently the only such center in the district, became operational after nine people, including three women and six minors, were brought from Pandua area of Gazol on Sunday under heightened security, according to senior district police officials.
“The detention center has started functioning. Nine Bangladeshi nationals are currently being accommodated here. Necessary verifications and legal procedures are underway. Detainees are being treated in accordance with prescribed legal norms,” PTI quoted the officer as saying.
What is Bengal’s “Identify, Remove and Deport” policy?
Bengal’s “Find, Clear and Deport” policy is a state-level crackdown on illegal immigration that aims to identify undocumented individuals, remove them from local records and repatriate them. This framework, enforced by the state government, directly targets undocumented individuals who do not qualify for protections under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
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Those arrested are then transferred to newly established detention centres, including facilities in Malda and Murshidabad, where they can be held for up to 30 days while district magistrates and central authorities verify their nationality and biometrics. After the verification process, the detainees are handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF), which coordinates with border counterparts such as the Bangladesh Border Guard to facilitate their repatriation.
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“Those outside the purview of the CAA are illegal entrants and will be arrested by the state police and handed over to the BSF,” Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said.
Adhikari exposes the “detect, remove and deport” policy.
On 20 May, Adhikari unveiled a tougher anti-infiltration strategy, saying his government had implemented a “detect, wipe and deport” policy – a slogan long associated with the BJP’s political narrative on infiltration and border issues in the state.
The announcement came during a meeting with senior BSF officials where Adhikari handed over the first phase of land required for the construction of barbed wire fencing along the 27-km unfenced stretch on the Bangladesh border.
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“On May 14 last year, the Center sent a letter to the state regarding direct handover of BSF infiltrators, but the previous government did not implement this important provision. Now we have enforced it,” Adhikari said at the Nabanna state secretariat, according to PTI.
He did not specify the law under which the newly elected BJP government in West Bengal introduced a policy change aimed at prosecuting infiltrators.
However, the reference appears to point to the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which was passed by Parliament in April last year, which introduces a modern, technology-driven framework for screening, registration, monitoring, detention and deportation across India.
The legislation consolidates four earlier laws – the Passports (Entry into India) Act 1920, the Aliens Registration Act 1939, the Aliens Act 1946 and the Immigration (Liability of Carriers) Act 2000 – and replaces them with a single legal structure.
Immigration and Aliens Act, 2025
With effect from 1 September 2025, the Act provides for the creation of the Bureau of Immigration and empowers police officers of the rank of chief constable and above to arrest without warrant those suspected of violating mandatory immigration rules for foreigners in India.
Shortly after the law came into force, the Union Home Ministry issued an “exception order” stating that members of minority communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – who sought refuge in India due to religious persecution on 31/2025.
Unlike the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, which set 31 December 2014 as the eligibility cut-off for granting citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants, the exemption extended the deadline by ten years for non-prosecution purposes under the new framework.
As a result, non-Muslim refugees under the CAA who entered India illegally between 2015 and 2024 from three neighboring countries due to fear of persecution will not face police action despite not having Indian citizenship.
