The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the Union government’s response to a petition alleging that a Bengali woman from West Bengal was detained in Mumbai and forcibly pushed into Bangladesh without proper verification of her nationality.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice on the petition filed by the woman’s son. Senior Advocate Dr S Muralidhar appeared for the petitioner.
Woman Allegedly Detained in Mumbai
The petitioner identified his mother as Sahida Fakir, a resident of Gobindapur in West Bengal. According to the plea, Fakir had travelled to Mumbai with her husband nearly 20 years ago in search of work and had been working there as a domestic worker.
The petition alleged that she was detained on July 19 on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.
Her son claimed that she remained in custody for more than 100 hours without being produced before a judicial magistrate, informed of the grounds for her detention or allowed to communicate with her family.
Around five days later, she was allegedly handed over to the Border Security Force and taken towards the northeastern region before being pushed across the international border into Bangladesh.
Fakir reportedly contacted her family on July 31 after receiving temporary humanitarian shelter in Bangladesh.
Plea Challenges Deportation Procedure
The petition argues that Fakir’s alleged deportation violated Articles 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution, which protect equality, freedom, life and personal liberty, and safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention.
It also challenges the Standard Operating Procedure issued on May 2, 2025, titled “Procedure for Deportation of Illegal Bangladeshi Nationals/Rohingya”, and the Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025.
The petitioner alleged that the procedure allows authorities to identify, detain and remove suspected foreign nationals without sufficient safeguards to prevent Indian citizens from being wrongly deported.
According to the plea, no judicial determination of Fakir’s nationality, deportation proceedings, consular verification or meaningful opportunity to challenge the allegation that she was Bangladeshi was provided.
Documents Cited as Proof of Indian Citizenship
The petition included documents that the family cited as evidence of Fakir’s Indian citizenship, including a voter identity card issued in 2008.
Her parents’ names also reportedly appeared in the 2002 electoral roll. However, Fakir was marked as “under adjudication” during the recent Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
Her exclusion from the electoral roll has reportedly been challenged before an appellate tribunal.
The petition further argued that the nationality verification procedure prescribed under the government’s deportation guidelines was not followed in Fakir’s case.
Background of Detentions of Bengali-Speaking Muslims
The case comes amid reports of Bengali-speaking people, many of them Muslims, being detained in several states after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack.
Authorities have questioned some detainees about their citizenship and alleged links to Bangladesh. In some cases, people have reportedly been pushed across the border before later being identified as Indian citizens and brought back.
