Modi govt challenges Calcutta HC call for return of six deported to Bangladesh

India's central government has approached the Supreme Court, challenging a Calcutta High Court order that directed authorities to bring back six people who were deported to Bangladesh earlier this year after being labelled illegal immigrants.

The Supreme Court petition, filed on 22 October, contests the High Court's 26 September ruling that required the repatriation of the six individuals within four weeks. The deadline for their return expired on 24 October, says the Times of India.

The group includes Sunali Khatun, her husband Danish Sheikh, their 8-year-old son Sabir, as well as Sweety Bibi and her two minor sons. According to Indian media reports, Sunali's father—described as a permanent resident of Birbhum, West Bengal—filed a habeas corpus petition in August, noting that his daughter was eight months pregnant at the time. The High Court observed that the detainees had lived in Birbhum since birth.

Sunali, Danish, and Sweety had been working as ragpickers in Rohini, New Delhi, when they were detained on 21 June on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals. Following a deportation order issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) on 26 June, they were pushed across the border into Bangladesh the same day.

Bangladeshi police arrested the six on 21 August for illegal entry, and they have remained in custody since then.

The Calcutta High Court later annulled the FRRO's deportation order, criticizing what it described as an overreach of executive authority under India's Foreigners Act of 1946. The court said the law does not "empower the executive to pick up a person at random, knock at his or her door, and tell him that he is a foreigner."

Lawyers representing Sunali's family told Indian media they had expected a swift resolution and are now considering additional legal steps to compel Indian authorities to comply with the repatriation directive.