The Supreme Court is examining a petition filed by the son of Sahida Fakir, an Indian woman who was allegedly forced into Bangladesh without verification. The incident occurred in July 2023.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court requested the Union government's response to a plea submitted by the son of a woman named Sahida Fakir, a resident of Gobindapur in West Bengal who had been working in Mumbai for approximately 20 years. According to her lawyer, Fakir was detained on July 19, 2023 under suspicion of being an illegal immigrant. The petitioner asserted that Fakir was kept in custody for over 100 hours before being presented before a judicial magistrate.
The allegation is that Fakir was not informed of the reasons for her detention nor allowed to communicate with her family during this period. Five days later, she was handed over to the Border Security Force who reportedly forced her across the international border into Bangladesh. It is said that Fakir managed to contact her family on July 31 after receiving temporary humanitarian shelter in Bangladesh.
The petition claims that Fakir's forced deportation infringes upon Articles 14, 21, and 22 of the Indian Constitution, which deal with equality before law, protection of life and personal liberty, and safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention respectively. The evidence provided to support her Indian citizenship includes a voter identity card issued in 2008.
It is worth noting that Fakir's parents were marked 'under adjudication' during the recent special intensive revision of electoral rolls, and an appeal against their exclusion is currently pending before the tribunal handling similar challenges.
Source:
Scroll.in
