Nov. 6 — Prominent Indian civil society figures, legal scholars, and rights advocates have strongly condemned alleged unlawful cross-border pushbacks of Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens and escalating violence against religious minorities in West Bengal, speaking at the conclusion of a two-day People’s Tribunal held at the Press Club in Kolkata.
Organized under a seven-member joint civic initiative led by Harsh Mander’s Karwan-e-Mohabbat, the Sabar Institute, and Amra Ek Sachetan Prayas, the tribunal gathered testimonies on severe human rights abuses along the international boundary. Presenters alleged that the Border Security Force (BSF) has carried out covert nighttime pushback operations into Bangladesh without judicial due process, stranding targeted individuals along zero-line border zones and triggering acute humanitarian emergencies.
The tribunal’s jury comprised distinguished former officials and civil advocates, including former union secretary, ex-Prasar Bharati CEO, and former Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar; Harsh Mander; former Amnesty International India head Aakar Patel; former National Commission for Minorities chairman Wajahat Habibullah; former All India Catholic Union president John Dayal; rights defender Vidya Dinker; and historian Professor Tanika Sarkar.
Addressing a press conference, Jawhar Sircar challenged political rhetoric alleging 15 million foreign infiltrators in the state, noting that not a single verified list or evidentiary dossier has been submitted to substantiate such claims. He expressed sharp concern over electoral register revisions (SIR), characterizing them as systemic administrative tools utilized to disenfranchise and harass genuine voters, particularly minority citizens, while questioning the neutrality of the Election Commission.
Aakar Patel observed that secular tolerance—the foundational premise of the Indian republic—is facing systemic deterioration, warning that sustained administrative silence regarding harassment against Muslim and Christian communities enables extremist impunity.
Documented case studies compiled by Human Rights Watch and grassroots rights organization MASUM were presented during the proceedings. In Murshidabad’s Suti area, Dablu Sheikh—whose father was registered on the 1966 voter rolls and who himself voted in recent elections with valid Aadhaar and ration documentation—was branded a foreigner without statutory inquiry and targeted for border expulsion. Similarly, 76-year-old Jalil Akhtar from Uttar Dinajpur, an elector on voter registries for over three decades, endured 87 days in administrative detention alongside two failed pushback attempts across the border.
The jury further registered alarms regarding escalating violence targeting West Bengal’s Christian community, noting a marked surge in vandalism and intimidation against churches, worship centers, and missionary organizations. Citing records from the All India Christian Council, the tribunal reported at least 68 documented incidents of intimidation and attacks over a six-month period. Explicit allegations were raised against right-wing outfits including Hindu Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal for disrupting prayer services and assaulting clergy in Salanpur, Durgapur, Hingalganj, and Medinipur.
The tribunal urged an immediate halt to extrajudicial deportations, demanded institutional accountability for rights violations, and called for the prompt reinstatement of arbitrarily struck names ahead of forthcoming civic elections in Kolkata and Howrah.
Source: Official Joint Press Briefing & Declarations of the People’s Tribunal Jury Board, Kolkata