The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered the repatriation of six Indians, including a pregnant woman, who were pushed into Bangladesh earlier this year.
The court also held 鈥榯he deportation as illegal and directed the Union Home Ministry to ensure their return to West Bengal within four weeks鈥�, according to Indian media reports.
The order from the Calcutta High Court came when pushing people into Bangladesh by India had become common. Since May 7, the Indian Border Security Force pushed nearly 2,400 people into Bangladesh, labeling them as Bangladeshis.
The India Today, an Indian English-language weekly, on its online version on Saturday, reported that a Division Bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra passed the order after dismissing the Centre鈥檚 request to defer the order.
The Indian Supreme Court had earlier asked the High Court to hear the matter of the pregnant woman, Sunali Khatun, on priority, the report mentioned.
The six individuals, belonging to two families from Birbhum district, were arrested by Delhi Police from Rohini on June 26, the report said.
The Foreigners Regional Registration Office later pushed them into Bangladesh on suspicion of lacking valid documents and on account of speaking Bengali, according to the report.
鈥極n Friday, the High Court said the deportation order amounted to a 鈥渨rongful pushback.鈥� It further instructed that the individuals, including Sunali Khatun, must be brought back to Bengal within a month,鈥� the report said.
The Centre, however, informed the court that it plans to approach the Supreme Court against the ruling, it said.
A report published by The Times of India, an Indian English-language daily and digital news media, on its website on Saturday said, 鈥楽unali, expecting a child any time now, her husband Danish Sk and the couple鈥檚 eight-year-old son Sabir are in Chapainawabganj prison in Bangladesh.聽 With them are Sweety Biwi and her two minor sons, Kurban and Imam. They were arrested in Bangladesh on August 21 for illegally entering the country. A Bangladesh court is likely to hear their bail plea on October 6. Sunali, Danish and Sweety earned a living working as ragpickers in Delhi鈥檚 Rohini.鈥櫬�
Chapainawabganj district administration sources confirmed that the six people arrested in August were produced before a court in Chapainawabganj.
The BSF, for the last time, pushed 19 people into Bangladesh through the Chanshikari border point of Bholahat in Chapainawabganj on September 24.
With the 19, the number of people pushed into Bangladesh by India since May 7 has increased to 2,361.
Of the 2,361 people, 193 are Rohingyas, Border Guard Bangladesh officials said, and added that 50 of these Rohingyas were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in India.
