The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to examine whether a pregnant woman and her child, who were pushed into Bangladesh earlier this year, can be allowed to enter India on “humanitarian grounds” while being kept under “surveillance”.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to seek instructions from the government.
The woman, Sonali Khatun, is said to be in an advanced stage of pregnancy and is reportedly waiting at the Indo-Bangladesh border in Malda, West Bengal.
Mehta told the court, “Give us two days to seek instructions on the issue. We understand the court is asking us to consider the case on humanitarian grounds. We will look into it,” and asked for time to respond.
Senior advocate Sajay Hegde, appearing for Khatun’s father, Bhodu Sheikh, informed the court that Khatun and her family were on the Bangladesh side of the border waiting to re-enter India. He argued that their deportation had already been held illegal and that they are Indian citizens.
The bench said the Centre may allow the woman and her child to enter India and place her under hospital surveillance to prevent complications. Hegde also urged the court to ensure that her husband is allowed to enter India as well, saying he cannot be left behind.
The matter will next be heard on December 3 after Mehta seeks instructions.
The case stems from a plea filed by the Centre challenging the Calcutta High Court’s September 26 order, which had quashed the government’s decision to deport Khatun and others to Bangladesh. The high court had called the deportation “illegal”.
On September 26, the Calcutta High Court struck down the Centre’s move to deport Khatun and another woman, Sweety Bibi, along with their families, terming them “illegal immigrants”. It ordered that the six deported individuals be brought back to India within a month and refused to stay its directive.
The high court ruling was issued in response to two habeas corpus petitions. The first, filed by Bhodu Sheikh, stated that his daughter Sonali Khatun, her husband Danesh Sheikh, and their five-year-old son from Murarai in Birbhum were detained in Delhi and then pushed into Bangladesh despite Khatun being heavily pregnant.
The second petition, filed by Amir Khan from the same locality, claimed that his sister, Sweety Bibi, and her two children were similarly detained by the Delhi Police and sent across the border.
According to the petitioners, both families had been working as daily wage labourers in Delhi’s Rohini Sector 26 for over two decades. They alleged that on June 18, the AN Katju Marg police detained them on suspicion of being Bangladeshis and deported them on June 27. Reports stated that Bangladeshi authorities arrested them after they crossed over.
In the proceedings before the high court, the Centre had said in its affidavit that the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office), Delhi, had repatriated the migrants under a Union Home Ministry memo dated May 2, 2025.
The memo outlines the deportation protocol. It states that in cases involving Bangladesh or Myanmar nationals suspected of staying illegally, the state or Union territory must first conduct an inquiry. Deportation can proceed only after this process.
The high court criticised the authorities for acting in “hot haste” and violating the memo’s procedures. It noted that the deported individuals had relatives in West Bengal, and said, “the kind of overenthusiasm in deporting the detainees, as visible herein, is susceptible to misunderstanding and disturbs the judicial climate in the country.”