The Supreme Court on Friday sought clarification from the Union on whether Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants were detained as foreigners solely because of their language, emphasizing that language alone cannot determine a person’s citizenship.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi, and Vipul M. Pancholi was hearing a plea against the alleged detention and deportation of Bengali-speaking labourers, including a pregnant woman, Sunali Bibi, who was reportedly pushed across the border into Bangladesh without due process.
The Court directed the Union government to file its reply within a week in connection with the alleged “illegal pushback” of young pregnant woman Sunali Khatun and others.
It further clarified that the habeas corpus petition pending before the Calcutta High Court, concerning the citizenship status of one Sonali Bibi, should be heard independently of the present proceedings on priority and decide their citizenship status without delay.
Emphasising the deeper social and cultural context, the bench observed that Bengali- and Punjabi-speaking Indians share the “same legacy of cultural and linguistic heritage” with people across the border, who speak the same language but were historically divided by boundaries.
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