Centre tells SC it will bring back deported persons from Bangladesh
The Supreme Court of India was informed that the Centre will bring back individuals earlier deported to Bangladesh to verify their citizenship claims, after a Calcutta High Court ruling termed the deportation illegal and ordered their repatriation
New Delhi: The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to bring back some people, who were earlier deported to Bangladesh, to India and would then verify their claim of Indian citizenship.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant that keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and by not treating it as a precedent to be followed in other matters, the government has decided to bring them back.
“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 comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi. The top law officer said that it may take 8-10 days to bring these persons back to India. The bench posted the matter for hearing in July.
The top court was hearing a plea of the Centre challenging a September 26, 2025 order of the Calcutta High Court by which it had set aside the central government’s decision to deport Sunali Khatun and others to Bangladesh and termed it as “illegal”.
On December 3 last year, the top court allowed on “humanitarian grounds” the entry of Khatun and her eight-year-old child into India, months after they were pushed into Bangladesh.
It had asked the West Bengal government to take care of the minor and directed the chief medical officer of Birbhum district to provide all possible medical assistance to pregnant Khatun, including free of cost delivery. On April 24, the apex court granted last opportunity to the Centre and asked its counsel to take instruction and get back to it on the issue.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde, appearing for Khatun’s father Bhodu Sekh, had said it was a “bit unfair” on the part of the Centre which has not apprised the court about its views in the matter.
Earlier, the top court had noted the submission of Mehta that the competent authority had agreed to allow the woman and her child into the country purely on humanitarian grounds without prejudice to rights and contentions, and they would be kept under surveillance.
Sekh alleged that the families, working as daily wage earners in Sector 26 of the Rohini area in Delhi for over two decades, were picked up by police on June 18, last year on suspicion of being Bangladeshis and subsequently pushed across the border on June 27.
On September 26 last year, the high court quashed the Centre’s decision to deport Khatun and Sweety Bibi, residents of Birbhum district in West Bengal, along with their families to Bangladesh after terming them as “illegal immigrants”. The high court had directed the Centre to ensure that the six deported citizens are brought back to India within a month and rejected the government’s appeal to grant temporary stay on the order.
The high court had passed two orders in connection with a habeas corpus petition filed by Sheikh, who claimed his daughter along with her husband Danesh Sheikh and five-year-old son were detained in Delhi and pushed to Bangladesh.
Another petition from the same Birbhum neighbourhood by Amir Khan made a similar claim stating that his sister Sweety Bibi and her two children were detained by Delhi police from the same area and pushed to the neighbouring country. The deportees were then reportedly arrested by Bangladesh police.
The high court had noted that the Centre stated in its affidavit that FRRO (Foreigner Regional Registration Office), Delhi being a civil authority, has been repatriating illegal migrants of Bangladesh as per instruction dated May 2, 2025 issued by the Union home ministry in a memo.
Detailing the protocols to be followed for deportation, the memo states that in respect of
Bangladesh/Myanmar nationals identified to be staying in an unauthorised manner in any particular state or Union territory, an inquiry will be conducted by the state government or Union territory concerned, following which the process of deportation would be taken up. In its order, the high court had observed that “the proceeding for deportation was conducted in hot haste” by the authorities and in violation of the provisions of the memo.
“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 order had stated.
