Calcutta High Court quashes deportations of six persons from Bengal, says bring back both families within 4 weeks

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has struck down the deportation of two families from Birbhum district who were sent to Bangladesh in June, directing the Centre, Delhi Police and West Bengal authorities to secure their return within four weeks.

Following the verdict, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee posted on X: “Today, the long arm of the law has finally caught up. The Hon’ble Calcutta High Court has held the FRRO (Delhi) detention and deportation order unlawful and directed the immediate repatriation of six people, including the pregnant woman from Birbhum, who were labelled ‘Bangladeshi migrants’ and expelled… Justice has begun to be served. Our resolve to protect the dignity, rights and language of the people of Bengal remains unshaken.”

Banerjee further said that the order exposed a “cruel and systematic campaign of harassment aimed at Bengalis”.

Banerjee alleged that the episode highlighted a targeted political agenda by the BJP. “This judgment lays bare a cruel and systematic campaign of harassment aimed at Bengalis by the Bangla-Birodhi BJP,” he said.

A division bench of Justices Reetobroto Kumar Mitra and Tapabrata Chakraborty passed parallel orders in two habeas corpus petitions. In one, Bhodu Sekh v. Union of India, the court quashed the deportation of Sekh’s daughter Sunali Khatun, her husband Danish Sekh and their minor son Sabir. In the other, Amir Khan v. Union of India, it set aside the removal of petitioner Amir’s cousin sister Sweety Bibi and her two minor sons, Kurban Sheikh and Imam Dewan.

Both families were detained in Delhi on June 24, 2025, during an “identity verification drive”, where they were picked up along with several other Bengali-speaking residents without prior notice. They were medically examined, shifted across locations, and deported just two days later, on June 26, aboard special flights via Guwahati. The bench said the deportations were carried out “in hot haste” and in violation of the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines dated May 2, 2025, which require suspected foreigners claiming Indian roots to be kept in holding centres while their claims are verified with their home state within 30 days. In neither case were the details referred to the Birbhum authorities, despite both families producing identity and residential documents.

The judges emphasised that “suspicion, however high, cannot be a substitute for proof” and warned that overzealous deportations “disturb the judicial climate”. They held that fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 extend even to non-citizens and that interrogations conducted in police custody could not replace proper statutory inquiry. In Bhodu Sekh’s petition, the court also noted that Sunali was in an advanced stage of pregnancy when deported. In Amir Khan’s case, the court recorded that one child had a birth certificate establishing Indian citizenship, which was ignored.

Rejecting the Centre’s objections on jurisdiction and alleged suppression of earlier Delhi High Court petitions, the bench ruled that since the petitioners were residents of West Bengal and had filed police complaints there, an integral part of the cause of action arose within the state.

The court directed the authorities to coordinate with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to bring back both families within four weeks. Centre’s plea to stay the orders was rejected.

Earlier, Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister and TMC chairperson, had accused the BJP-led-Centre of targeting Bengali-speaking migrant labourers despite them being residents of Bengal.