On June 1, 2026, ten people, men, women and children, were stranded in No Man’s Land near the Benapol border after Border Guard Bangladesh stopped an attempted pushback by India’s Border Security Force (BSF). They were suspected to be illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. But for an entire day and night, they remained trapped between two states, accepted by neither side, until the BSF finally agreed to allow them to return to India.That image should disturb every citizen. An international border is meant to mark sovereignty. It should not become a space where human beings are left without rights, nationality or remedy. India has every right to secure its frontier with Bangladesh, prevent illegal entry, stop trafficking networks and act against forged documents. But no democracy can defend its border by suspending due process at the border.The danger is not abstract. Last year, Awal Sekh, a migrant worker from Murshidabad and an Indian citizen, was detained in a Chennai holding centre for nearly a year under suspicion of being Bangladeshi. He was eventually released after the Madras High Court intervened. But a year of lost liberty cannot be returned by a release order. His case shows how administrative suspicion can become punishment when citizenship is judged by language, class or place of origin.The case of Sunali Khatun is even more alarming. A pregnant Bengali migrant worker was reportedly sent to Bangladesh under suspicion of being Bangladeshi, triggering a legal battle that travelled from the Calcutta high court to the Supreme Court. Her case exposed a frightening reality that a poor migrant can be uprooted first and heard later. When the state acts before it verifies, citizenship itself becomes insecure.These cases must be read in the context of the “Detect, Delete, Deport” policy, or the 3D policy, now shaping the politics of migration. Preventing illegal immigration is both the right and the responsibility of the state. However, if the implementation of a “Detect, Delete and Deport” policy is carried out without proper investigation, evidence, an opportunity to be heard, and due legal process, it may run contrary to the Constitution and the rule of law. While national security is important, protecting the rights of innocent citizens is equally essential.On paper, detecting illegal migrants, deleting fraudulent names from official records and deporting verified foreign nationals may sound like a firm administrative programme. In practice, without transparent verification and judicial oversight, it risks becoming a dragnet against Bengali-speaking people.Across several parts of the country, Bengali-speaking migrant workers have increasingly found themselves under suspicion of being “Bangladeshi”. In many cases, the suspicion appears to arise not from proven evidence of foreign nationality, but from language, name, religion, dress, accent or district of origin. Workers from Murshidabad, Malda, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas, Purba Bardhaman and other districts of West Bengal have reportedly faced detention, repeated document checks, harassment, threats of deportation and, in some cases, alleged push-backs across the Bangladesh border.This raises a disturbing question. When did speaking Bengali become a ground for suspicion in India?Bengali is not a foreign marker. It is one of India’s major languages, spoken by millions of Indian citizens. A worker from Murshidabad employed in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kerala or Gujarat does not become less Indian because his mother tongue is Bengali. To treat Bengali-speaking workers as presumptive foreigners is not effective border management. The issue is not whether illegal migration exists. It does. The India-Bangladesh international border is approximately 4,096.7 km long, around 4,097 km, making it one of the longest land borders in the world. It is also among the most vulnerable, shaped by Partition, riverine geography, poverty, trafficking, smuggling and irregular labour movement. Since 2014, thousands of crores of rupees have been spent on fencing, floodlights, surveillance systems, roads and border infrastructure. If infiltration has still not stopped, accountability must begin with the systems responsible for border management. It cannot be shifted onto ordinary Bengali-speaking workers.There is also a crucial legal distinction between extradition, deportation and repatriation. Extradition is a treaty-based process involving persons accused or convicted of crimes. Deportation is an administrative process used against foreign nationals who violate immigration law. Repatriation requires verification that the person being sent back actually belongs to the receiving country. A police officer or border force cannot decide nationality on suspicion. Bangladesh is not bound to accept anyone India labels Bangladeshi without verification.That is why pushbacks are so dangerous. They bypass the formal pipeline of apprehension, inquiry, citizenship verification, nationality confirmation by Bangladesh, travel documents and recorded handover at designated border points. This process may be slow, but it exists to prevent irreversible mistakes. The moment it is replaced by informal night-time transfers or border pressure tactics, citizens and migrants alike become vulnerable to abuse.Holding centres deepen this concern. If suspected foreigners are detained in facilities in Murshidabad, Malda, North 24 Parganas or elsewhere, those centres must not become legal black holes. Every detainee must have access to legal aid, family contact, medical care, translation support and written grounds of detention. There must be independent monitoring and fixed timelines for verification. No person should be moved to the border without documented nationality confirmation.The nationality verification bottleneck is real. Thousands of cases have reportedly remained pending for long periods, leaving people trapped in correctional homes or holding centres even after completing sentences or inquiries. But administrative delay cannot justify illegal shortcuts. The answer to a slow process is to make it transparent, digital, accountable and time-bound, not to abandon due process altogether.The political rhetoric around “infiltration” has made the situation combustible. For years, exaggerated claims about “crores of infiltrators” have been repeated in rallies and campaigns, while official responses have often admitted that exact numbers are difficult to determine. When uncertain data is turned into political certainty, ordinary workers pay the price.The social consequence is already visible. Bengali-speaking migrant workers are increasingly forced to carry documents at worksites, railway stations, rented rooms and labour markets. They build cities, roads and homes, but live with the fear that their language or surname may turn them into suspects.India must know who enters its territory. But it must also know who its own citizens are. The poorest worker should not have to prove nationality every day because of accent, religion or district of birth.Justice, not suspicion, must be the foundation of citizenship.Asif Farukh is a rights activist working to defend the rights of Bengali migrant workers.This report, originally written in Bengali, was translated by Aparna Bhattacharya.