Nationality in question: Karnataka HC seeks Bangladesh verification in Bengaluru detainee case
Bengaluru: Uncertainty continues to surround the citizenship status of a 32-year-old Bengaluru resident after the Karnataka High Court directed the state government to verify his antecedents through Bangladeshi authorities, despite official confirmation from West Bengal identifying him as an Indian national.
According to a report by The Indian Express, Rafiqul Biswas, who worked as a school bus driver and scrap dealer, was detained by Bengaluru police in September last year on allegations that he was a Bangladeshi national living illegally in India. The police action was reportedly based on documents, including a birth certificate and an identity paper bearing his photograph, which described him as a citizen of Bangladesh. Biswas’s family has consistently denied the allegation, asserting that he and his parents are natives of West Bengal.
The detention led to a prolonged legal and personal crisis for Biswas and his family. While lodged at a Foreigners Regional Registration Office detention centre, he suffered a cardiac episode and was hospitalised. He reportedly experienced a second heart attack in December and was subsequently released on medical grounds. His family has said he has faced repeated cardiac complications over the past four months, attributing them to stress arising from the case.
Since his release, Biswas has moved out of his earlier residence, citing fear of being targeted and loss of livelihood. Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, he declined to reveal his current location. His teenage daughter said the family had spent several days outside the FRRO office during his detention, carrying documents to prove his Indian citizenship. “My father is from West Bengal. We were born here,” she said.
The family also approached the State Human Rights Commission, alleging that the police had sought a bribe to settle the matter. The police have denied the allegation. Sources in the commission confirmed that the family had appeared before it in connection with the complaint.
Support for Biswas came from the All-India Shramik Swaraj Kendra, a Bengaluru-based organisation working with informal-sector workers. The organisation took up the case after Biswas’s wife sought assistance and later contacted the West Bengal Chief Minister’s Office for verification. Representatives of the organisation said the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Board, in coordination with the Nadia district police, confirmed that Biswas is a resident of West Bengal and forwarded the relevant documents to the Karnataka government.
A lawyer was subsequently engaged to represent Biswas before the Karnataka High Court, where it was argued that a foreigners’ tribunal must first determine an individual’s nationality before any deportation proceedings could be initiated.
In an order passed on January 12, the High Court recorded that government authorities had acknowledged Biswas as a native of West Bengal and observed that the prosecution must produce proof from Bangladesh if it continued to claim that he was a foreign national. Acting on an appeal filed by the FRRO, the court granted the authorities two weeks to seek verification of the documents through Bangladeshi officials and directed the police to explain how papers identifying Biswas as Bangladeshi were obtained.
A senior police officer associated with the case said the detention was carried out based on a letter from State Intelligence describing Biswas as an illegal immigrant, along with documents received through official channels. The officer maintained that the police had followed due procedure and rejected allegations of bribery.
The matter is expected to come up for further hearing in early February.
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Rajnath to top commanders: Outmaneuver adversaries with strategic surprise
Jaipur/New Delhi (PTI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday directed the top military commanders of the three services to integrate an "element of surprise" into modern warfare to outmaneuver India's adversaries and bolster strategic posture.
In his address at the joint commanders conference in Jaipur, Singh also described the Operation Sindoor as a testament to the "swift, precise, and joint response" of the Indian armed forces to safeguard national interests and called upon the military to remain ready to deal with any security challenges.
In their two-day deliberations, the commanders carried out a comprehensive review of the combat preparedness of the military in the wake of the evolving regional security situation.
Operation Sindoor was a demonstration of India's growing capabilities and a symbol of the nation's collective resolve and new military ethos, Singh said, a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
He also unveiled a 'Joint Doctrine for Integrated Communication Architecture' that is aimed at strengthening doctrinal clarity, interoperability and integrated communications across the armed forces in future multidomain operations.
The joint commanders' conference, themed 'Military Capability in New Domains', brought together the top leadership of the defence ministry and the three services to deliberate on emerging security challenges and future readiness.
Comprehensive deliberations were held on future warfare, multidomain operations, technological transformation and joint capability development.
The conference witnessed extensive discussions on cognitive warfare, cyber resilience against evolving quantum and AI-enabled threats, military capability development in emerging domains, indigenous innovation and AI-enabled warfighting concepts.
It was attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh among others.
In his remarks, Singh asked the commanders to remain "future-ready" by learning from the operation as well as the current global security landscape.
He underscored the need to strengthen capabilities in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, data analytics and secure communication networks to stay prepared in the rapidly evolving geopolitical security scenario. He emphasised that future conflicts will increasingly be shaped by hybrid threats, information dominance and operations conducted simultaneously across cyber, space, electromagnetic and cognitive domains, according to an official readout.
Highlighting the transformative impact of emerging technologies, Singh stressed on the importance of ensuring integrated national preparedness across all spectrums of conflict, it said.
Singh's remarks at the conference came a day after the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor.
The defence minister appreciated the progress achieved in enhancing jointness, integration and technological adoption across the three services, the readout noted.
Singh said that jointness constitutes a pivotal dimension within the transformative changes sweeping across the global defence sector.
"Future wars will not be won solely through weaponry, but through innovative thinking and enhanced synergy," he said.
The defence minister exhorted the commanders to cultivate the "element of surprise" to remain unpredictable to the nation's adversaries and secure a strategic edge in any given situation.
He, however, urged them to remain vigilant of the element of surprise of the enemy and always stay two steps ahead.
Singh also reiterated the Narendra Modi government's commitment to enhancing the capabilities of the defence forces through state-of-the-art weapons and platforms. He added that special focus is being laid on research in niche domains.
During the conference, he released a documentary film on Operation Sindoor.
The film reaffirms the nation's and defence forces' commitment to operational preparedness and decisive national response capabilities.
Demonstrations of advanced systems and platforms developed for intelligence fusion, operational planning and information management were also showcased during the conference reflecting growing integration of cutting-edge technologies into joint operational structures, according to the defence ministry.
The discussions will contribute significantly towards shaping India's future military transformation and integrated operational preparedness, it said.
