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The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the Centres response on a plea seeking the return of a West Bengal woman who was allegedly detained in Mumbai and pushed into Bangladesh after her name was deleted from the electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice to the Central government and sought its response on the plea. The top court was hearing a petition filed by the womans son Sahin Fakir seeking her repatriation. The petitioner said Sahida Fakir is an Indian citizen, with permanent residence in Gobindapur, District North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. She had travelled to Mumbai about 20 years ago with her husband in search of work and was working there as a domestic worker. The son claimed that his mother was illegally apprehended in Mumbai and detained on July 19, whereafter she was forcibly removed to Bangladesh. Her Aadhaar card and phone were allegedly seized, and she was detained for over 100 hours without being produced before a Magistrate, it was alleged. The plea alleged that she was subsequently handed over to the BSF and pushed across the Bangladesh border along with around 20 other detainees. She is currently staying in a temporary shelter in Bangladesh, it said. The petitioner argued that deletion of Fakirs name from the electoral roll during the SIR does not amount to a determination of her citizenship, particularly as her appeal against the deletion is pending. He also relied on electoral records showing her grandfathers name in the 1952 roll and her parents names in the 2002 roll, while alleging that no proper inquiry into her citizenship was conducted before she was deported. He sought protection of his mother from any adverse action as well as her immediate repatriation to India. (ANI)
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