Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Response On Claim That Bengali Woman Was Pushed Out To Bangladesh Without Nationality Verification
The petitioner contended that his mother was sent to Bangladesh without following the due process.
The Supreme Court today issued notice on a son's petition alleging that his mother was "pushed-out" from India to Bangladesh without any verification of nationality. The plea seeks protection of the woman from any adverse action as well as her immediate repatriation to India.
A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the order. Senior Advocate Dr S Muralidhar appeared for the petitioner-son.
The habeas corpus plea refers to the petitioner's mother as 'Pushoutee' instead of detenu (as she is alleged to have been 'pushed-out'). It states that she is an Indian citizen, with permanent residence in Gobindapur, District North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. She had travelled to Mumbai about 20 years ago with her husband in search of work and was working there as a domestic worker.
The petitioner claims that his mother was illegally apprehended in Mumbai and detained on July 19, whereafter she was forcibly removed to Bangladesh. She remained in custody for over 100 hours without being produced before a Judicial Magistrate, without being informed about the grounds of detention and without any communication with her family. After approx. 5 days, she was handed over to Border Security Force. Thereafter, she was taken to the north-eastern region, and while in custody of BSF, pushed across the international border towards Bangladesh.
No judicial determination of her nationality, deportation proceeding, consular verification or meaningful opportunity to contest the allegation of Bangladeshi nationality was afforded to her, the plea states. It is claimed that after she was pushed across the border, the petitioner's mother received temporary humanitarian shelter and eventually contacted her family through the Border Guard on July 31. She confirmed her presence in Bangladesh and the circumstances.
Besides his mother's alleged forcible removal, the petitioner challenges the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) dated 02.05.2025 titled 'Procedure for deportation of illegal Bangladeshi nationals/Rohingya regarding' and the Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025 (2025 Order) insofar as they "facilitate" removal of persons from India without compliance with safeguards prescribed by law.
In this regard, the petitioner alleges violation of Articles 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. It is argued that the above framework effectively concentrates in the executive the functions of identification, investigation, determination and execution of removal, without adequate safeguards against wrongful identification and expulsion of Indian citizens.
On facts, it is contended that the petitioner's mother was lawfully present in India all through-out and her Indian identity is supported by identity and civil documents, besides historical electoral records. While her grandfather's name appears in the 1952 roll, the name of her parents statedly appears in 2002 electoral roll. Her name however was removed from the electoral rolls following ECI's Special Intensive Revision. The deletion from roll has been challenged before the Appellate Tribunal (West Bengal).
The petitioner argues that despite his mother's claim of Indian citizenship and residence in West Bengal, the verification mechanism prescribed under Para 9(iv) of the impugned SOP was not followed. For context, Para 9(iv) contemplates verification where a person suspected to be a Bangladeshi/Myanmar national claims Indian citizenship and residence in another State or Union Territory.
The plea further highlights that Para 9(iv) of the SOP does not contain the nationality-verification procedure provided under Para 12(4)(C) of the 2025 Order. Para 12(4)(C) contemplates nationality verification of an alleged illegal migrant apprehended in India without a valid passport or travel document, including obtaining the necessary travel document through MEA before deportation. It has been stated that the petitioner's mother did not have a passport or other travel document when she was apprehended.
Ultimately, the petition asserts that the "push-out" of petitioner's mother was ex-facie illegal and violative of her rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21.
Recently, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that it has repatriated, on humanitarian grounds, certain Bengali Muslims who were forcibly sent to Bangladesh.
Appearance - Sr Adv Dr S Muralidhar, AoR Prasanna S, Advocates Jhuma Sen, Purbayan Chakraborty, Ninni Susan Thomas, Megha, K Rigved Prasad, Apoorva Singh, Ishita Tulsyan, Ashish Reddy M, Deeptangshu Kar, and Injila Zaidi
Case Title - Sahin Fakir v. Union of India and Ors.
Case No. - WP(Crl) No. 372/ 2026