The Supreme Court on Tuesday verbally observed that the Union government should bring back, as an interim measure, residents of West Bengal who have been deported to Bangladesh on suspicion of being foreigners, Live Law reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the persons, who say that they are Indian citizens, have a right to plead their case before the authorities with documents.

The court said that the Union government should bring them back temporarily so that the deportees can be heard and agencies can verify the authenticity of their documents.

Kant said that while deporting an “illegal entrant” from Bangladesh is justified, “if somebody has something to show you, that wait I belong to India, I am born and brought up here, and I am actually an Indian national, he has a right to plead before you”, Live Law reported.

The bench gave the counsel representing the Union government time till December 1 to get instructions from the Centre on the matter.

Advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing the petitioners, informed the court that the Union government had challenged an order by the Calcutta High Court that had directed the repatriation of the deportees.

He alleged that the Union government only acted in the matter after the petitioners moved the High Court alleging contempt, Live Law reported.

The case

The Union government had moved the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order that directed it to bring back two migrant worker families from West Bengal’s Birbhum district who had been pushed into Bangladesh and accused of being undocumented immigrants.

The High Court had on September 26 set aside the deportation order against six persons, including eight-month pregnant Sunali Khatun. It had directed that they be brought back to West Bengal within four weeks.

Two days before the four-week period ended on October 24, the Union government filed its petition amid reports that the families of the deported persons were planning to move the High Court for directions to ensure compliance with its repatriation order.

The Union government and the Delhi Police have questioned whether the High Court had the jurisdiction to hear the case.

Since May, thousands of Bengali-speaking migrant workers have been rounded up in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party and asked to prove that they were Indian citizens – and not undocumented immigrants.

In several cases, workers have been declared foreigners within days and forced into Bangladesh, despite being Indian citizens.

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