The Calcutta High Court on Friday struck down the deportation of a West Bengal woman, her husband, and their minor child to Bangladesh, ruling that authorities acted in “hot haste” and violated constitutional safeguards.
In a strongly worded order, seen by Maktoob, a division bench of Justices Reetobroto Kumar Mitra and Tapabrata Chakraborty directed the Union government to bring back eight-month pregnant Sunali Khatun, her husband Danish Sekh, and their son within four weeks, coordinating with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Another family from a nearby village endured the same ordeal. Sweety Bibi and her two children were detained in Delhi and deported with Sunali’s family. The order doesn’t mention their repatriation.
The case was filed by Sunali’s father, Bhodu Sekh, who alleged that his daughter and her family, Indian citizens by birth and permanent residents of Birbhum district, were picked up in Delhi during an “identity verification drive” on June 24 and deported two days later without due process.
The six deportees, including three children, were detained by Delhi Police during a crackdown on undocumented migrants. Since May, several BJP-ruled states have carried out raids in settlements of Bengali workers, detaining hundreds over alleged discrepancies in documents.
Government lawyers argued that Sunali and Danish admitted they were Bangladeshi nationals and failed to produce valid citizenship documents, justifying their deportation under the Foreigners Act, 1946. They also said the family had earlier challenged the deportation in the Delhi High Court, then withdrew the petition.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
