A sessions court in Vasai, Maharashtra, on 2 April, freed 22 people who had been arrested by Thane police last December in the name of being Bangladeshi and forced to live behind bars for around four months. All the accused hailed from Murshidabad, West Bengal. Their detention had earned heavy uproar from public and subsequently the Minority Commission of Maharashtra has taken the matter into its course. On the intervention of the Commission, the police visited Murshidabad to verify their identity. Consequently, it requested the court, on 28 March, to release them.
The minority commission has meanwhile asked the government to take action against the police officers who apprehended and made them stay in jail for no fault of theirs. The Maharashtra government has arrested 7,698 persons in the name of Bangladeshis since 2009.