Deported as Bangladeshis, Sunali Khatun and her son to be brought back on ‘humanitarian grounds’

The central government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Sunali Khatun, a pregnant woman and her 8-year-old son, who were deported for being Bangladeshis, will be brought back to India on humanitarian grounds, ANI reported.

Previously, the Supreme Court inquired whether the Centre could bring them back to India, considering they might be Indian citizens.

“Their cause is altogether different because they claim that they are Indian citizens. If this girl is Bhodu’s daughter, then it should be looked at from an entirely different perspective,” the news agency quoted the top court's remarks.

The Court ordered the State to provide free medical treatment to Sunali due to her pregnancy. The case has been scheduled for further examination on 12 December.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi urged the West Bengal government to take care of the minor and instructed the chief medical officer of Birbhum district to offer all necessary medical support to Sunali Khatun, including free delivery, according to a report by PTI.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea from the Centre challenging the Calcutta High Court's 26 September order, which set aside the central government's decision to deport Khatun and others to Bangladesh, labelling it as “illegal”.

The bench also stated that they would eventually be brought back to Delhi, from where they were initially taken, and then deported to Bangladesh.

However, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde, representing the woman's father, stated that it would be appropriate for her and her child to be brought to their home district of Birbhum in West Bengal, where her father lives.

The senior counsels informed the court that there are other individuals, including Khatun's husband, who are in Bangladesh and need to be brought back to India, the report said.

Question of Indian citizenship

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, argued that they would dispute the claim that the individuals are Indian citizens. He maintained that they are Bangladeshi nationals and that the union government is only permitting the woman and her child into India on humanitarian grounds.

Justice Bagchi said if it is established that the woman is the daughter of Bhodu Sheikh, then it would be sufficient to establish her Indian citizenship.

The woman's father claimed that the families, who have been working as daily wage earners in Sector 26 of Rohini, Delhi, for more than twenty years, were detained by police on 18 June on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals, and they were then pushed across the border on 27 June.