New Delhi, 3 Dec

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a pregnant woman and her eight-year-old child to re-enter India from Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds, months after they were allegedly pushed across the border.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the West Bengal government to ensure the safety and care of the minor and provide full medical support to the woman, Sunali Khatun, including free delivery services.

The bench recorded the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the Centre has agreed to facilitate their entry “purely on humanitarian grounds without prejudice to rights and contentions,” and they would remain under surveillance.

The top court is hearing the Centre’s plea against a 26 September  order of the Calcutta High Court, which had set aside the decision to deport Khatun and others, terming it “illegal”.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde, appearing for Khatun’s father, urged the court to ensure she and her child are taken to Birbhum district, where the family resides. They also submitted that other family members, including Khatun’s husband, remain in Bangladesh and must be brought back.

Mehta maintained the Union government would contest their claim of Indian citizenship, saying “they were Bangladeshi nationals” and stressed the current move was only on humanitarian grounds.

Justice Bagchi observed that if Khatun proves she is daughter of Bhodu Sheikh, it would sufficiently establish Indian citizenship.

The woman’s father has alleged that multiple families, working as daily wage earners in Delhi’s Rohini area for over two decades, were detained on 18 June on suspicion of being Bangladeshis and pushed across the border on 27 June.

The court has listed the matter for further hearing on 10 December .