West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that Bangladeshi nationals entering India illegally will no longer be sent to jail but will instead be handed directly to the Border Security Force (BSF). He made the statement on Tuesday after an administrative meeting with officials from Nadia, Hooghly, and North 24 Parganas districts in Kalyani. Adhikari said the police had been instructed accordingly, arguing that keeping such individuals in jail wastes public money.

Adhikari claimed that a large number of 'illegal Bangladeshis' had gathered at the Hakimpur checkpoint in North 24 Parganas district. Addressing them, he urged them to leave quickly, warning that the government would take action otherwise. He added that these individuals harm Indian citizens, particularly residents of West Bengal, and that previous governments had avoided enforcing existing laws for political reasons.

Earlier, the BJP-led government in West Bengal, under Adhikari’s leadership, had ordered the creation of ‘holding centers’ in every district to detain alleged Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators. Similar facilities have been established in other Indian states over the past year.