Four Birbhum Residents Return from Bangladesh After Supreme Court Intervention

Four residents of West Bengal's Birbhum district returned to India on Wednesday, nearly a year after they were allegedly sent to Bangladesh following their arrest in Delhi on suspicion of being illegal infiltrators. Their return marks the end of a prolonged legal battle that reached the Supreme Court , highlighting concerns over citizenship verification, due process and the protection of individual rights.

The returnees include Sweety Bibi , her two minor sons and Danish Sheikh , the husband of Sonali Khatun, who had already been brought back to India in December last year following a separate Supreme Court directive.

Officials said the four entered India through the Mahadipur Integrated Check Post in Malda district's Englishbazar block. After completing border formalities, the administration arranged their transportation to their native village in Birbhum, allowing the families to reunite after months of separation.

According to police records and family members, the group, along with Sonali Khatun and her minor son, was arrested by Delhi Police on June 22, 2025, while working as hawkers in the national capital. Their relatives alleged that they were detained because they were speaking Bengali and were suspected of being infiltrators. The group was later taken to Assam and allegedly pushed across the border into Bangladesh, where they remained stranded.

The families challenged the action through legal channels, first approaching the Calcutta High Court before the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court. Sonali Khatun was repatriated in December after the apex court took note of her advanced pregnancy. She later gave birth to a baby boy in January.

Importantly, the Supreme Court did not issue a final ruling declaring the deportees to be Indian citizens . Instead, the Court facilitated their return after the Union government informed it that the individuals would be brought back to India and their citizenship claims would be examined through the appropriate legal process. The order ensured that their documents and claims could be properly verified before any final determination regarding their status was made.

Welcoming the return of the remaining four, Amir Khan, brother of Sweety Bibi, said the Supreme Court had ordered their return on May 22 and expressed relief that the family had finally been reunited.

Reacting to the development, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam described the return as the outcome of a long legal struggle. He said the judiciary's intervention played a crucial role in securing the return of the affected individuals and stressed that while action against illegal infiltration was necessary, genuine Indian citizens should not face harassment or wrongful deportation .

The case has drawn attention to the challenges of citizenship verification in border-sensitive regions and the importance of judicial oversight, due process and constitutional protections . It also underscores the role of the courts in ensuring that administrative actions are subject to legal scrutiny and that individuals have access to remedies when their rights are allegedly violated.