After SC nudge, Centre allows deported pregnant woman, her child to return from Bangladesh

Following a nudge from the Supreme Court, the Centre on Wednesday allowed a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old child to re-enter India on “humanitarian grounds”, months after they were sent to Bangladesh.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the competent authority had agreed to allow the woman and her child to enter India purely on humanitarian grounds without prejudice to rights and contentions, and they would be kept under surveillance.

Following Mehta’s submission, the Bench directed the West Bengal Government to take care of the minor and instructed the chief medical officer, Birbhum district, to extend all necessary medical support, including ‘free-of-cost delivery’, to the pregnant woman, Sunali Khatun.

It said the mother-child duo would eventually be taken back to Delhi, from where they were initially picked up and deported.

The top court issued the order while hearing the Centre’s petition challenging the Calcutta High Court’s September 26 order setting aside deportation of Khatun and others to Bangladesh, declaring it “illegal”.

The top court will take up the matter on December 10. The Bench had on December 1 asked the Centre to consider allowing the woman and her child to re-enter India while keeping her under “surveillance”. It had also asked Mehta to seek instructions on facilitating her re-entry through the Indo-Bangladesh border at Malda, West Bengal.

As senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde, representing Khatun’s father, sought similar directions for the return of others ‘stranded’ in Bangladesh, the Solicitor General opposed the claim.

Mehta contested their claim of being Indian citizens, reiterating that authorities considered them Bangladeshi nationals and that their return was permitted solely on humanitarian grounds.

Khatun’s father alleged that his family members, who had been working as daily wage labourers in Sector 26 of Delhi’s Rohini for over 20 years, were detained by the police on June 18 on suspicion of being Bangladeshis and subsequently pushed across the border into Bangladesh on June 27.

Justice Bagchi said if Khatun could prove she was the daughter of Bhodu Sheikh, “then it would be sufficient to establish her Indian citizenship”.

On Mehta’s request to stay the contempt of court proceedings before the Calcutta High Court, the Bench asked the HC that the top court was seized of the matter.

The Calcutta High Court’s September 26 order had quashed the deportation of Khatun and others and directed the Centre to bring the six deported individuals back to India within a month.