Calcutta High Court calls Bangladesh deportation of 6 Bengal residents ‘Illegal’, orders return in 4 weeks

The Calcutta High Court has ruled the deportation of six West Bengal residents to Bangladesh unlawful and instructed the Central government to ensure their return to India within four weeks. 

The group, which includes a pregnant woman and two children, had been detained and deported by the Delhi Police on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals, even though they asserted they were Indian citizens.

A division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra issued two separate orders in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Bhodu Sheikh. She alleged that her daughter, Sunali—nine months pregnant—along with her husband, Danesh Sheikh, and their five-year-old son, all residents of Murarai in Birbhum, were detained in Delhi and subsequently deported to Bangladesh.

All India Trinamool Congress MP took to his X, “Today the Calcutta High Court tore apart the BJP’s sham — their attempt to brand pregnant Birbhum resident Sunali Khatun and five others (including children) as 'Bangladeshi nationals' was exposed as a lie. The bench found their claim completely false and declared the FRRO Delhi’s detention/deportation order illegal, ordering that the family be brought back to India within four weeks.”

He added, “I will never forget how BJP stooges launched vile, personal attacks on me and my family when I stood with these families — true sons and daughters of Birbhum. This is not just my victory; it is Bengal’s victory — a rebuke to the BJP’s anti-Bengali, anti-poor policy.”