SC directs Centre to bring back six people, including pregnant woman, expelled to Bangladesh
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Union government to bring back six individuals, including pregnant West Bengal resident Sunali Khatun, who were deported to Bangladesh without verification of their citizenship documents, and urged that only after their return should the authorities examine their papers, as the government had failed to comply with an earlier Kolkata High Court order.
The case reached the apex court after the Union government ignored the Calcutta High Court’s directive of September 24, which had instructed it to secure the return of all six people within four weeks, and instead filed an appeal that resulted in further judicial scrutiny, while the bench led by newly-appointed Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi sought accountability for the delay, The Wire reported.
Khatun and five others, detained in Delhi in June, had been sent to Bangladesh within three days of their detention, and the material placed before the courts indicated that at least two of the women — including Khatun and Sweety Bibi — appeared to have longstanding and well-established links to India, as their family names featured in the 2002 electoral roll and land records dating back to 1952 showed continuous residence and property ownership.
The family of Khatun, including her father Bhodu Sheikh, had shifted to Delhi due to economic distress and had been engaged in collecting waste paper and selling scrap, and the petitioners argued that such documentation should have been examined beforehand, since deporting individuals without verification amounted to a breach of due process.
In an unusual turn, a court in Bangladesh also sought the return of the group by requesting cooperation from the Indian high commission in Dhaka, yet no steps had been taken by Indian authorities to honour either the Bangladeshi court’s request or the Kolkata High Court’s order, placing the onus firmly on the Union government as the matter is scheduled for further hearing on December 1.