Legal decision prompts action from Indian High Commission following wrongful deportation of families from West Bengal.
A court in Bangladesh has ruled that two families from West Bengal’s Birbhum district, who were forcibly moved into the neighboring country earlier this year, are Indian citizens. This decision was reported by The Indian Express on Friday. The senior judicial magistrate of the Sadar Court in Chapainawabganj issued the order on October 3, instructing that the case be forwarded to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka for necessary action.
In making this determination, the magistrate considered various forms of identification, including the families’ Aadhaar cards and their residential addresses in West Bengal. Among those affected is a pregnant woman named Sonali Khatun, along with her husband Danish Sheikh and their eight-year-old child. Khatun’s lawyer in India, Supratick Syamal, expressed optimism that the family could return home within one to two days.
Since May, a wave of Bengali-speaking migrant workers has faced scrutiny in states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, with many being asked to prove their citizenship status. There have been numerous instances where workers have been swiftly labeled as foreigners and deported to Bangladesh, despite their claims of being Indian citizens.
Khatun and her family were among six individuals detained in Delhi in June and subsequently pushed across the border. Concerns about the citizenship of Khatun’s unborn child prompted her father, Bhodu Sheikh, to file a petition with the Calcutta High Court. Another family deported alongside them included Sweety Bibi, 32, and her two sons, aged six and sixteen, also originating from Birbhum.
Prior to their deportation, both families were held at the KN Katju Marg police station in Delhi, where they were classified as “Bangladeshi citizens.” The October 3 court order followed a significant ruling from the High Court on September 26, which overturned the Centre’s deportation order against the families. The court criticized the quick actions taken to deport them, labeling it a clear violation of legal processes.
As part of its directive, the court ordered that the six individuals, including Khatun, be returned to West Bengal within four weeks. Additionally, the court dismissed the Centre’s request for a stay on this order. The Centre had previously been instructed to provide an affidavit detailing the deportation procedure and to clarify the circumstances under which the families were sent across the border. In its response, the Centre claimed that the detainees were Bangladeshi nationals.
Trinamool Congress MP Samirul Islam welcomed the Bangladeshi court’s ruling, highlighting that it validated the families’ Indian citizenship, which had been contested. He pointed out that the order had been forwarded to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, emphasizing the need for the safe return of the deported individuals to India. Islam characterized the situation as a reflection of the ongoing challenges faced by Bengali-speaking individuals, asserting that the ruling exposes the targeting of these communities by the current government.
