New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday allowed on “humanitarian grounds” the entry of a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old child into India, months after they were pushed into Bangladesh.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi 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 the pregnant woman Sunali Khatun, including free of cost delivery.
The bench noted the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that the competent authority has 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.
The top court was hearing a plea of the Centre challenging the September 26 order of the Calcutta High Court by which it had set aside the central government’s decision to deport Khatun and others to Bangladesh and termed it “illegal”
The bench further said they would eventually be brought back to Delhi from where they were picked up and deported to Bangladesh.
However, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the woman’s father, said it would be appropriate that she and her child be brought to their home district, Birbhum in West Bengal, where her father resides.
The senior counsels urged the court that there were others also, including Khatun’s husband, who are in Bangladesh, and need to be brought back to India, for which Mehta may seek further instruction.
Mehta contended that he would be contesting their claim of being Indian citizens and maintained that they were Bangladeshi nationals, and it was only on humanitarian grounds that the union government was allowing the woman and her child into India.
Justice Bagchi said if the woman establishes credentials that she is the daughter of Bhodu Sheikh, then it would be sufficient to establish her Indian citizenship.
The top court posted the matter for hearing December 10.
The woman’s father 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 June 18 on suspicion of being Bangladeshis and subsequently pushed across the border June 27.
December 1, the top court asked the Centre to consider allowing the woman and her child into India while keeping her under “surveillance”.
The top court had asked Mehta to seek instructions on allowing the woman, who is in the advanced stage of pregnancy, to enter India through the Indo-Bangladesh border at Malda in West Bengal.
Hegde, appearing for Sheikh, said they were waiting on the Bangladesh side to enter India.
He said their deportation to Bangladesh has been held illegal and they are Indian citizens.
September 26, 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 an instruction dated May 2, 202,5 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 UT concerned, following which the process of deportation will 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.
PTI
