In the 10-member Baidya family, two brothers and their parents are recognised as Bangladeshis while their wives and four children have been conferred Indian citizenship.

The curious case came to light when one of them Gouranga Baidya moved the Orissa High Court after he was thrown out of his job as a teacher in a government-run school because of his foreign roots.

"In 2005, we received the quit India notice. It was a cruel blow. I was a teacher with a government school. Now, the same government agencies, which found merit in my application, are out to retrench me from the job. Finally the Judiciary came to our rescue," Gouranga said.

He claimed that his grandfather Haripada moved over to Baulokani in Orissa as a registered refugee in the early seventies.

"My father had two younger brothers, who have happily settled down in the village as Indian citizens. But my children are caught in a tangle. For them, their mother is an Indian while father is a Bangladeshi," he rued.

Union Home Ministry's quit India notice asking illegal settlers to leave the country had been issued on January 15, 2005, but it has been kept in abeyance since then due to some problems.

Kendrapara district collector Sisirkanta Panda said in June, the same year, the government conducted a magisterial enquiry to crosscheck the antecedent of the persons, asking them to provide proofs of domicile.

In response, 200 families submitted the proofs and Baidya's family was one of them. The matter has since been referred to the Union Home Ministry for a decision.

In the meantime, the 'foreign' stigma attached to the families has put them in an unenviable situation as natives shy away from establishing matrimonial alliance with them.