A 40-year-old woman from West Bengal has been allegedly deported to Bangladesh after being detained by police in Navi Mumbai on suspicion of being an infiltrator, despite her family submitting multiple government records establishing her Indian citizenship and identity, leaving her husband and two sons behind in India. Sahida Fakir, originally from Swarupnagar in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, was picked up from a market in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, on 18 July when she had gone to buy groceries for dinner. Her husband and two sons remain in India, with their younger son currently studying in Class 7, whilst their elder son works as a mobile phone repair technician.
Two months ago, human rights organisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha moved the Calcutta High Court alleging Sahida’s illegal arrest, arbitrary detention, and unlawful branding as a Bangladeshi national, despite the existence of multiple official records establishing her Indian citizenship. Her husband, Jumman Fakir, stated that the family produced her birth certificate, school certificate, her parents’ land deed, and other identity documents at a detention centre in Chembur, but were informed three days later that she had already been sent to Bangladesh. Both families originate from Swarupnagar, maintaining that they are Indian citizens who have lived and worked in Mumbai for two decades without experiencing any previous legal intervention.
According to the family, Sahida was taken to Assam and pushed across the border into Bangladesh alongside a group of individuals. She is currently staying with a host family in Satkhira, Bangladesh, after walking for eight hours through muddy terrain following her deportation. Speaking over the telephone from Satkhira, Sahida stated that she was pushed across the border near Assam at around 1 am and walked through fields until reaching a main road, where local residents provided her with food, clothing, and shelter. Expressing her desire to return home, she questioned who would care for her young son in her absence.
The petition submitted to the Calcutta High Court details that Sahida’s father, Amanuddin Gazi, and mother, Majida Bibi, were long-term residents of Gobindapur village in Swarupnagar, North 24 Parganas. Their names appeared in the 2002 electoral roll of the Swarupnagar Assembly constituency under Serial Numbers 514 and 515 of Part Number 89, confirming their status as recognised Indian voters. Sahida’s birth was officially registered on 12 October 1995 by the Bithari Hakimpur Gram Panchayat under Registration Number 6382, whilst her father’s death was registered with the West Bengal Health Department on 22 January 2019 under Registration Number 82041. Furthermore, Sahida possesses an Electoral Photo Identity Card, a Permanent Account Number card issued by the Income Tax Department, a registered birth certificate, and recorded land ownership under J.L. Number 49, Khatian Number 4436, in Mouza Gunrajpur.
Despite these documents, human rights groups alleged that Sahida was taken by force to a detention facility housing suspected undocumented foreign nationals on the evening of 19 July. The complaint emphasizes that nearly 90 hours elapsed without her being produced before a judicial magistrate, during which time she was neither informed of the legal grounds for her arrest nor permitted access to legal counsel or communication with her family.
The West Bengal Migrant Labourer Unity Forum has formally written to the Ministry of External Affairs requesting urgent intervention, document verification, and diplomatic steps to facilitate her return. Simultaneously, residents of her ancestral village of Gobindapur wrote to the local district magistrate attesting that her family has been known to the village community for generations. The human rights organisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha maintained that executive authorities lack the jurisdiction to declare an individual a foreign national merely on suspicion or profiling without adhering to statutory judicial processes. Sahida’s family and legal representatives are continuing their approach to the Calcutta High Court to secure her diplomatic repatriation, following similar recent cases where detained West Bengal residents were returned to India following court interventions and border security flag meetings.