New Delhi, Aug 19 The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that certain Bengali-speaking individuals, who were sent to Bangladesh from West Bengal on suspicion of their citizenship, have been brought back to India.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of the development and disposed of petitions filed by the Centre challenging directions of the Calcutta High Court for the repatriation of certain Bengali-speaking individuals.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for some of the individuals who were deported to Bangladesh, informed the bench that the intervention of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had helped resolve the immediate issue.
"I must thank him (the solicitor general) for his intervention. The matter has worked itself out. They have all come back," Hegde said.
Recording the submission, the bench noted that it had been informed that "as a special case, the respondents have been brought back".
Since the individuals had returned to India, there was no reason to keep the proceedings pending, it said and disposed of the petitions.
The bench, however, clarified that the question of law involved in the matter was left open.
On May 22, the Centre told the bench that it has decided to bring back some people, who were earlier deported to Bangladesh, to India and would then verify their claim of Indian citizenship.
The solicitor general had said that keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and by not treating it as a precedent to be followed in other matters, the government has decided to bring them back.
"The government would bring them back and thereafter examine their status. Depending upon the outcome, we will take steps accordingly," Mehta had said.
The top court was hearing a plea of the Centre challenging a September 26, 2025 order of the Calcutta High Court by which it had set aside the central government's decision to deport Sunali Khatun and others to Bangladesh and termed it as "illegal".
On December 3 last year, the top court allowed on "humanitarian grounds" the entry of Khatun and her eight-year-old child into India, months after they were pushed into Bangladesh.
It had asked the West Bengal government to take care of the minor and directed the chief medical officer of Birbhum district to provide all possible medical assistance to pregnant Khatun, including free of cost delivery.
On September 26 last year, the high court quashed the Centre's decision to deport Khatun and Sweety Bibi, residents of Birbhum district in West Bengal, along with their families to Bangladesh after terming them as "illegal immigrants".
The high court had directed the Centre to ensure that the six deported citizens are brought back to India within a month and rejected the government's appeal to grant temporary stay on the order.
The high court had passed two orders in connection with a habeas corpus petition filed by Sheikh, who claimed his daughter along with her husband Danesh Sheikh and five-year-old son were detained in Delhi and pushed to Bangladesh.
Another petition from the same Birbhum neighbourhood by Amir Khan made a similar claim stating that his sister Sweety Bibi and her two children were detained by Delhi police from the same area and pushed to the neighbouring country.
The deportees were then reportedly arrested by Bangladesh police.
