New Delhi: The Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday that it will bring back several people who were deported to Bangladesh and then examine their claims of Indian citizenship.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, said the government had decided to repatriate the individuals “considering the specific circumstances of the case and without treating it as a precedent.”
He added: “The government would bring them back and thereafter examine their status. Depending upon the outcome, we will take steps accordingly.” Mehta told the bench, which also included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, that it could take eight to 10 days to bring the people back.
The petitions concern several people who were alleged to have been pushed into Bangladesh after being suspected of being Bangladeshi nationals despite insisting they are Indian citizens, as reported by The Business Standard.
Earlier Relief On Humanitarian Grounds
On 3 December last year, the Supreme Court permitted Sonali Khatun and her eight-year-old child to enter India on humanitarian grounds after they had been pushed into Bangladesh months earlier. The court also asked the West Bengal government to take care of the child and directed the chief medical officer of Birbhum district to ensure all necessary medical treatment for the pregnant woman, including free delivery.
When the matter came up again on 24 April, the apex court gave the Centre one last chance to spell out its stand. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde, appearing for Sonali’s father Bhodu Sheikh, told the bench that the Union government had not properly placed its position before the court.
Mehta, however, had earlier informed the court that the c
ompetent authority had agreed to let Sonali and her child re-enter India strictly on humanitarian grounds and without affecting the government’s legal case, adding that they would be kept under surveillance.
Family Claims & Court Orders
According to Bhodu, the families involved had been working as daily wage labourers in Delhi’s Rohini area for more than two decades. He claimed that police detained them on 18 June last year on suspicion that they were Bangladeshi nationals and that they were pushed across the border on 27 June.
The Calcutta High Court later stepped in on 26 September and overturned the Centre’s deportation decision involving Sonali and Sweety Bibi, both from Birbhum district, along with their families after they were branded illegal immigrants. The court ordered the Centre to bring back the six deported people within a month and turned down the government’s plea to suspend the ruling.
The case came before the high court through two habeas corpus petitions. One was filed by Sheikh, who said his daughter, her husband Danesh Sheikh and their five-year-old son were detained in Delhi and forced into Bangladesh. The other was filed by Amir Khan, who alleged that his sister Sweety Bibi and her two children were similarly detained and deported. Reports later said the deportees were arrested by Bangladesh police.
Deportation Process Questioned
Before the high court, the Centre said the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Delhi had been sending back illegal Bangladeshi migrants in line with a Union home ministry directive issued on 2 May 2025. That directive requires state governments or Union territories to first conduct a probe into suspected Bangladeshi or Myanmar nationals living unlawfully before any deportation begins.
The high court said the deportation had been done “in hot haste” and in breach of the procedure laid down in the directive. “The detainees have their relations residing in the State of West Bengal … the kind of overenthusiasm in deporting the detainees, as visible herein, is susceptible to misunderstanding and disturbs the judicial climate in the country,” the court said.