The Supreme Court on Thursday (September 17, 2026) issued notice to the Centre and authorities in Maharashtra on a petition filed by a man against the detention and deportation of his mother to Bangladesh.

The petition also challenged the legality of the standard operating procedure dated May 2, 2025, titled ‘Procedure for Deportation of Illegal Bangladeshi Nationals/Rohingya-regarding’, and the Immigration and Foreigners Order, 2025.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate S. Muralidhar and advocate Prasanna S., appearing for petitioner Sahin Fakir, challenged the laws to the extent that they permitted the removal of persons apprehended within India without any safeguards prescribed by law and the Constitution.

Mr. Fakir alleged that his mother, Ms. Sahida, was illegally detained and “pushed out” of India into Bangladesh in July without any verification of her nationality. He has sought the enforcement of the fundamental rights of his mother, whom he said was an Indian citizen and permanent resident of Gobindapur in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.

“The family's connection with Gobindapur is further corroborated by a representation signed by 63 permanent residents of the village, including the Petitioner and members of the Pushoutee’s family, addressed to the District Magistrate, North 24 Parganas, seeking her immediate return to India,” the petition said.

The petitioner linked his mother’s deportation with the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll exercise in West Bengal. He said that though his mother’s Indian identity and longstanding connection with West Bengal were supported by her identity and civil documents and by historical electoral records, her name had been deleted from the electoral roll during the SIR process. The deletion was under challenge before a tribunal.

He said she had travelled to Mumbai approximately 20 years ago with her husband in search of a livelihood and worked there as a domestic worker.

According to the petition, Ms. Sahida was intercepted on July 19 in Mumbai by persons identifying themselves as police personnel, forcibly apprehended and taken to a detention facility. Her identity documents and mobile phone were taken from her, and no fair inquiry into her nationality was undertaken, nor was she afforded an effective opportunity to establish her Indian citizenship, the petition said. She had remained in custody for over 100 hours without being produced before a Judicial Magistrate or informed of the grounds of detention, it added.

Five days later, she was handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF), taken to an international border and forcibly pushed into Bangladesh, the petition said, adding, "No judicial determination of her nationality, deportation proceeding, consular verification or meaningful opportunity to contest the allegation of Bangladeshi nationality was afforded to her."