New Delhi, Aug 29 The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Union government to file its reply within a week on a plea seeking to restrain cross-border deportation of Bengali-speaking migrants without prior citizenship verification.
A bench, headed by Justice Surya Kant, was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board alleging that Bengali-speaking migrant workers are being detained across several states of the country on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals.
The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, clarified that the pendency of the PIL before the apex court would not preclude the Calcutta High Court from deciding the habeas corpus petition already instituted there.
The direction came after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner side, pointed out an instance where a pregnant woman was forcibly pushed across the border and subsequently arrested by the Bangladeshi authorities on the ground that she was an Indian national.
A habeas corpus petition was filed on her behalf, but the Calcutta High Court adjourned the matter in view of the pendency of the present case before the Supreme Court, Bhushan submitted.
"They (authorities) are saying, people speaking Bengali are Bangladeshis. How can any authority push out any person without any determination whether so and so is a foreigner?" he asked.
He reiterated that the Foreigners Act does not authorise the government to detain people merely on suspicion that they are foreigners.
After hearing Bhushan, the Justice Kant-led Bench granted liberty to raise the issue of citizenship verification before the Calcutta High Court, urging it to take up the matter immediately and pass appropriate orders.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned why an organisation was raising such cases instead of the affected individuals approaching the authorities themselves. He added that the government is addressing the issue of illegal migrants to ensure that the nation’s resources are not strained, and that there is a genuine problem of illegal immigration.
Asking the law officer to bring on record the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) adopted by authorities, the apex court called for the Union government's response within a week.
It further directed impleadment of the Gujarat government as a party-respondent, following an application claiming that Bengali migrants were illegally detained and pushed out by state authorities.
In the previous hearing held on August 14, the Justice Surya Kant-led Bench issued notice and sought responses of the Centre and the governments of Odisha, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, and West Bengal in the matter.
However, the top court had refused to pass any interim directions, observing: "If we pass any interim orders, there will be consequences, especially for those who have illegally crossed the border and need to be deported under the law."
The plea claimed that Bengali-speaking Muslim migrant workers were being held in detention centres on suspicion of being foreigners, as they possessed documents in the Bangla language. The PIL added that in some cases, they were even deported, only for authorities to bring them back to India after verification.
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