After Sunali and Sweety, another Bengali woman deported to Bangladesh: What Saida Fakir's case reveals about Citizenship?

Saida Fakir's case has revived questions which Sunali Khatun and Sweety Bibi keep asking even today. The parameters to citizenship and due process and the legal safeguards governing deportation. Here's why the controversy extends beyond one family.

On 19th July 47-year-old Saida Fakir, a native of Gobindapur in Swarupnagar, North 24 Parganas, was allegedly picked up by Navi Mumbai Police while returning from a local market. According to her family, she was questioned on suspicion of being an illegal Bangladeshi national, detained overnight, and later transferred to a detention facility. Days later, her husband was allegedly informed that she had already been deported through Assam to Satkhira in Bangladesh. The family maintains that Saida possesses an Aadhaar card, PAN card and Voter ID, and has now approached the Calcutta High Court, the National Human Rights Commission and local police, alleging that she was deported without proper verification of her citizenship.

Why is Saida Fakir's deportation concerning?

The controversy is not confined to one alleged wrongful deportation. Saida's case follows those of Sunali Khatun and Sweety Bibi, two West Bengal women who were also allegedly pushed into Bangladesh after being suspected of being undocumented migrants while working outside the State. Their return and testimonies have raised questions over whether migrant workers from border districts are increasingly vulnerable to being profiled as foreign nationals despite claiming Indian citizenship.

‘No one else should have to suffer what we went through. If Saida is an Indian citizen, she must be brought back immediately. We endured immense hardship in Bangladesh. If the police do not conduct a proper investigation first, how can they send someone across the border?’ Sunali Khatun said after learning of Saida's case.

Sweety Bibi echoed similar concerns: ‘Verification should come before deportation. Even the Bangladeshi police did not accuse us of any crime, but we still spent time in jail. No one should have to go through that ordeal.’

What is the legal process before someone can be deported?

Ordinarily, deportation is not meant to begin with suspicion alone. Determining whether a person is an illegal foreign national involves administrative verification of identity documents, examination of available records and, where citizenship is disputed, legal procedures under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the Foreigners Act, 1946, and related rules. In several instances, courts have emphasised that citizenship disputes cannot be resolved solely through executive action without following due process.

Saida's family alleges that this process was bypassed despite her possessing multiple government-issued identity documents. The central question therefore is not only whether she is an Indian citizen, but what verification process was followed before she was removed from Indian territory.

Why do identity documents remain central to the controversy?

According to the family, Saida's Aadhaar, PAN and Electoral Photo Identity Card were available. Her son further claims that her name was not excluded during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, strengthening the family's assertion that she continued to be recognised in official records.

However, possession of identity documents alone does not automatically settle questions of citizenship in law. At the same time, legal experts have repeatedly argued that such records constitute important evidence that authorities are expected to examine before arriving at any conclusion regarding nationality. Whether those documents were scrutinised before the alleged deportation remains one of the principal unanswered questions.

What has been the official and political response?

The family has sought judicial intervention through the Calcutta High Court while simultaneously petitioning the National Human Rights Commission. A written complaint has also been lodged with Swarupnagar Police Station.

Politically, the case has produced competing narratives. Local BJP leaders have argued that illegal immigration must be investigated through rigorous verification, while the Trinamool Congress has alleged that residents of border districts are increasingly being branded as Bangladeshis without adequate evidence. No detailed response from the concerned Maharashtra authorities has yet addressed the family's specific allegations regarding the verification process.

Why does the case matter beyond Saida Fakir?

The significance of the case lies not merely in one alleged wrongful deportation but in what it reveals about the administration of citizenship itself. If repeated allegations involving Sunali Khatun, Sweety Bibi and now Saida Fakir point to procedural failures, the debate shifts from individual hardship to institutional accountability. For thousands of migrant workers from border districts who travel across India for employment, the question is no longer confined to documentation—it is whether constitutional guarantees of equality before law (Article 14) and protection of life and personal liberty (Article 21) are being upheld before the State takes the irreversible step of deportation.

The legal proceedings initiated by Saida's family are therefore likely to determine more than her individual fate. They may also test whether India's citizenship verification mechanisms contain sufficient safeguards to prevent genuine citizens from being treated as foreign nationals—and whether administrative suspicion can ever substitute for due process under the Constitution.