The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre on a habeas corpus petition alleging that a woman from West Bengal was detained in Mumbai and subsequently deported to Bangladesh without proper verification of her Indian citizenship or adherence to due process.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana sought the Centre’s response within four weeks.
The petition was filed by Sahin Fakir, who identified his mother as Sahida Fakir, an alleged Indian citizen and permanent resident of Gobindapur in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. The plea states that her grandfather’s name appeared in the 1952 electoral roll, while her parents were listed in the 2002 electoral roll.
According to the petition, Sahida was detained in Mumbai on July 19, 2026, and remained in custody for over 100 hours without being produced before a Magistrate. She was allegedly thereafter taken to the India-Bangladesh border and handed over across the border by the Border Security Force (BSF), without any judicial determination of her nationality.
The petitioner has challenged the legality of the deportation, alleging that Sahida was not given a meaningful opportunity to establish her Indian citizenship or contest the claim that she was a Bangladeshi national.
The plea also challenges the Union Home Ministry’s May 2, 2025 Standard Operating Procedure concerning the deportation of illegal Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas, along with relevant provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025.
The petitioner has sought Sahida’s immediate and safe repatriation to India and protection from adverse action until her citizenship status is determined in accordance with law.
The case comes amid similar proceedings concerning Bengali-speaking persons allegedly deported to Bangladesh over doubts regarding their nationality.
In an earlier matter, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that it would bring back certain deported persons and subsequently determine their citizenship status. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had submitted that the government would examine their status after repatriation.
The Supreme Court had also previously directed the repatriation of a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old son, emphasising humanitarian considerations in such cases.
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