Calcutta HC Calls Bangladesh Deportation of Birbhum Residents Illegal, Orders Return in 4 Weeks

PTI, KOLKATA, SEPT 26, 2025 : The Calcutta High Court on Friday set aside the Centre's decision to deport two women and their families from West Bengal's Birbhum district to Bangladesh, after terming them "illegal immigrants." The court directed the Centre to ensure that Sonali Bibi, Sweety Bibi, and four other deported family members, including three children, are brought back to India within a month. The High Court also rejected the Centre's appeal to grant a temporary stay on Friday's order.

A division bench, presided over by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, passed the order in connection with a habeas corpus petition filed by Bhodu Sheikh. She claimed that her daughter, Sonali, currently nine months pregnant, along with her husband, Danesh Sheikh, and their five-year-old son, hailing from Murarai in Birbhum, were detained in Delhi and deported to Bangladesh. Another petition from the same Birbhum neighborhood by Amir Khan made a similar claim, stating that his sister, Sweety Bibi, and her two children were detained by the Delhi Police and pushed to the neighboring country.

The petitioners alleged that the families, who had been working as daily wage earners in Sector 26 of the Rohini area in Delhi for over two decades, were picked up by the AN Katju Marg Police on June 18 on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshis, and subsequently pushed across the border on June 27. The deportees were then reportedly arrested by the Bangladesh Police.

Sonali's family members also expressed concern over the citizenship status of her newborn child if she were to give birth in Bangladesh. Counsel representing both families submitted in court that the forceful and illegal deportation took place despite the suspects providing necessary citizenship documents, including their land ownership papers and voter cards of the parents and grandparents, to the authorities concerned.