KOLKATA: An allegation that three senior Muslim IAS and IPS officers were excluded from official meetings and protocol duties during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visits to West Bengal in July and August has prompted demands for an investigation. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has alleged that the three officials were repeatedly kept away from government meetings and official protocol arrangements during Shah’s visits. According to Moitra, the only common characteristic shared by the three officers was their Muslim identity. The allegations, however, have not been independently established, and detailed public explanations from either the West Bengal government or the Union Home Ministry have not been made available.
The officials named in the allegations are Syed Waqar Raza, Commissioner of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate; Javed Shamim, head of the West Bengal Police’s Special Task Force (STF); and Khalil Ahmed, Additional Chief Secretary of the Fire and Emergency Services Department.
Allegations Surrounding July Meetings
According to Moitra, a high-level meeting on border security was held on July 18 at Uttarkanya in Siliguri under Shah’s chairmanship. Police superintendents from several districts bordering Bangladesh, along with other senior officials, reportedly attended the meeting.
Moitra has alleged that Syed Waqar Raza was asked to leave the meeting. She further claimed that he spent the remainder of the meeting in the office of his wife, Shama Parveen, who serves as a senior secretary in the North Bengal Development Department.
Moitra also alleged that Raza was not included in the official protocol team assigned to receive and see off the Union Home Minister. According to her letter, Inspector General of North Bengal, Sukesh Jain, was assigned the responsibility instead.
She further alleged that Javed Shamim was also instructed not to attend the same meeting. The STF was reportedly represented by Inspector General Gaurav Sharma. Moitra pointed to the presence of senior officials from other specialised police units, including the CID, Intelligence Branch and Cyber Cell, as part of her contention that Shamim's exclusion required explanation.
Another meeting was held in Kolkata on July 19 on law and order and disaster preparedness. Moitra alleged that Khalil Ahmed, the senior-most official of the Fire and Emergency Services Department, arrived to attend the meeting but was unable to remain there and was asked to leave. She also alleged that Shamim was again instructed not to attend.
Similar Allegations During August Visit
Moitra has said that the incidents were not isolated and that similar exclusions occurred during Shah’s second visit to West Bengal from August 20 to 22.
According to her allegations, Waqar Raza was again kept away from a border-security review meeting in Siliguri. She also alleged that Javed Shamim was prevented from participating in a government demonstration relating to the new criminal laws, with the STF again represented by Gaurav Sharma.
The allegations have raised questions about the basis on which officials were selected for participation in meetings and protocol duties. However, no publicly available official record cited in the allegations has so far established that the officers were excluded because of their religion.
Complaints to UN Special Rapporteur and National Commission for Minorities
On September 16, Moitra wrote to Nicolas Levrat, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, raising the allegations. She also submitted the matter to India’s National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
In her communications, Moitra sought information about the reasons for the officials’ exclusion and asked that the government identify who ordered them to be removed from the meetings or protocol arrangements.
She also called for the preservation of CCTV footage, tour diaries and other official records relating to Shah’s visits, which she said could help establish what happened.
The National Commission for Minorities has taken up the matter and sought a report from the West Bengal government. The commission has not reached a final conclusion on whether religious discrimination occurred; its action at this stage involves seeking the state government's response to the allegations.
FIR Against Maktub Media
The controversy took another turn after West Bengal Police registered a case against Maktub Media over its social-media coverage of the allegations.
An FIR was filed at the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station on September 19. According to the police complaint, a social-media post published by Maktub presented Moitra’s allegations in a manner that could amount to the dissemination of false information, promote hostility and disturb public order.
The FIR invokes multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Maktub has said that police also sought information relating to the publication’s social-media accounts, including login and device-related details.
The Press Club of India subsequently expressed concern over the FIR and called for its withdrawal. The organisation noted that the allegations had been publicly raised by an elected Member of Parliament and had also been reported by various media organisations.
Two Separate Issues Under Scrutiny
The controversy has consequently brought two separate issues into focus.
The first is whether the three senior Muslim officials were in fact excluded from official meetings or protocol duties during Shah’s visits and, if so, why those decisions were made. The second concerns the police action against a media organisation that reported on the allegations.
At present, the allegation of religious discrimination remains under examination rather than being an established finding. A response from the West Bengal government, together with relevant official records and the outcome of the National Commission for Minorities’ inquiry, could provide further clarity on the circumstances surrounding the officials’ exclusion.
Until such evidence is made public, the competing claims remain matters of allegation, official response and investigation.