On 2nd June 2025, the Supreme Court issued notice on a habeas corpus petition against the Assam government’s alleged ‘illegal’ detention of a Bangladeshi woman named Monowara Bewa who was out on bail since 12th December 2019.
After hearing the petition of the Bangladeshi woman’s son, Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma, issued notice to the respondents.
In this case, senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented the petitioner and claimed that a Superintendent of Police ‘threw’ the Bangladeshi woman out of India flouting the court order, even as a civil appeal in challenging Guwahati High Court’s order, which upheld her declaration as a foreigner, is pending before the Supreme Court since 2017.
However, when the court said that it would be appropriate to tag the present case with the pending appeal, Kapil Sibal contended that the Bangladeshi woman has been sent back to Bangladesh.
“But in the meantime, she is gone. She’s been thrown out. She’s been sent to Bangladesh,” Sibal said.
To this, Justic Sharma responded, “”[But] we can’t call her back…if she’s already not in the country…”
The Gauhati High Court had earlier upheld the Foreigners’ Tribunal decision that declared the woman a foreigner. The petitioner’s appeal against the order is pending in the Supreme Court.
Interestingly, on one hand, Sibal asserted that the SP violated court order to illegally send the woman to Bangladesh, on the other, he claimed that the petitioner does not know for sure if the woman has actually been deported to Bangladesh or is still in India.
“Your lordships know she has to be produced within 24 hours…not produced, sent straightaway, picked up from the house…directly in violation of this Court’s order in DK Basu…SP goes to the house, picks her up and throws her…how can that be!?” Sibal asked.
In addition to seeking the release of his mother, the petitioner has also sought (i) a direction for restraining “push back” of the detenue; (ii) inquiry against State of Assam for the ‘arbitrary’ arrest and detention; (iii) direction to the Union and Assam governments for initiating departmental proceedings and imposition of damages, LiveLaw reported.
As per the petitioner, the Bangladeshi woman was complying with the bail conditions. However, on 24th May 2025, the police called her to record her statement. After the woman reached the police station, she was not released.
The hearing in this matter will take place next week.
India’s Operation Push-back to detect, detain and deport illegal immigrants
Interestingly, on Monday (2nd June), the Supreme Court declined to entertain a petition alleging that the Assam government has reportedly launched a “sweeping and indiscriminate drive” to deport persons suspected to be foreigners to Bangladesh.
A vacation bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma asked the All BTC Minority Students Union (ABMSU) to approach the Gauhati High Court for appropriate relief.
Under Operation Push-back, India has deported more than 172 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants back to their home country between 24th and 25th May. The deportations were carried out through the borders located in Bangladesh’s Sylhet, Meherpur and Moulvibazar.
India pushed back a total of 19 Bangladeshi infiltrators in Meherpur on Sunday morning. They were then taken by the Border Guard Bangladesh to a temporary shelter. The Bangladeshi citizens who were living illegally in India were later taken into custody by the police. They infiltrated Indian territory at various points in time and resided in the State of Haryana.
On 29th May, around 160 illegal immigrants were sent back to Bangladesh via Hindon Air Base from Delhi.
Meanwhile, 29 Bangladeshi nationals, including women and children who were staying illegally in India were taken into custody by the Haryana police.
Previously, the BSF pushed back 16 Bangladeshi infiltrators back to their home country on 14th May this year. India’s crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants has rattled the Bangladeshi authorities, especially Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).
The interim government of Bangladesh, led by ‘chief advisor’ Muhammad Yunus has been rattled by India’s paradigm shift in strategy at dealing with infiltrators.
For decades, India has followed established protocols to deport Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas to their home country. The process has been slow (pending trial in courts), cumbersome (because Bangladesh government and Bangladesh Border Guard often refuse to acknowledge their own citizens) and has failed to attain success.
The situation has been exacerbated due to continued illegal immigration through the porous India-Bangladesh border with the help of agents and brokers but not enough deportations year-on-year. It must be noted that there are more than 2 crore Bangladeshis living illegally in India (2016 data).
Following the undemocratic ouster of Sheikh Hasina and the hostile attitude of the Yunus-led interim government, the deportation protocol has been rendered useless by Bangladesh.
Forced by circumstances, the Indian government has now resorted to what is being unofficially referred to as ‘Operation Push-back.’
The Indian government has devised a new strategy to get rid of Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas who are caught red-handed at the Eastern border as well as living in India illegally for several years.
Instead of going through the hassle of handing them over to the police, registering a FIR, producing them before the court, continuing trials for years and then sending them back through established protocols, the Indian security forces are now increasingly pushing-back the infiltrators to the other side almost instantenously.
In cases where Bangladeshis are nabbed from different cities of India (far from the Eastern borders), they are first flown to either Tripura, Assam or West Bengal and then pushed over to Bangladeshi side. Several States in India including Rajasthan, Tripura and Odisha have stepped up the process of identification of illegal immigrants.
The impact of crackdown on infilitrators have been successful so much so that some Bangladeshis are now ‘voluntarily returning‘ to their home country.
So far, more than 2,000 illegal immigrants have been deported by Indian authorities since “Operation Sindoor” commenced in the early hours of 7th May after the 22nd April Pakistan-backed Pahalgam terror attack.
India’s crusade against illegal immigration has not been without challenges. Besides international protocols, logistical challenges, political pressure, legal challenges also emerge when NGOs sympathising with illegal infiltrators approach courts seeking stay on deportation.
Some like Colin Gonsalves move Supreme Court to demand free of cost access to schools and hospitals for children of illegal Rohingya immigrants staying in New Delhi.
The Modi government has been working for detecting, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants including Rohingyas and Bangladeshis even for Operation Sindoor was launched and a fresh wave of deportations began under Operation Push-back.
In December 2024, India deported 14 Bangladeshi illegal immigrants staying in Central Delhi back to Bangladesh as a part of a special drive to identify and deport the illegals. Similarly, in December 2024, the South-West Delhi Police deported 8 Bangladeshi illegals.
In 2021, India deported several Rohingyas from Jammu. This came after 170 Rohingya illegals were detained from a camp in Jammu for document verification and later sent to Hiranagar Jail. Many of them were deported eventually outlining India’s deportation efforts despite challenges, international scrutiny and propaganda.
In December 2024, the electricity and water connections of over 400 households were cut, and eviction orders were issued for land that was unlawfully occupied by illegal immigrants. Four Rohingyas were also arrested by the police during the operation.
In Delhi, the police busted a major illegal immigration racket in December 2024 and arrested 11 individuals, including document forgers, Aadhaar operators, and tech experts involved in creating fake websites.
On 9th December, the Home Minister of Chhattisgarh, Vijay Sharma, said that the authorities have deported around 850 illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators from the state. Sharma was speaking at a public meeting in Bhilai, where he assured that all infiltrators would be identified and deported. Notably, he pointed out that around 500 illegal Bangladeshis have already been deported from Bastar and 350 have been removed from Kawardha.
Last year, the police in various states arrested Bangladeshi illegal immigrants. In some cases, the illegals were involved in criminal activities as well. In August 2024, it was reported that the Delhi Police said in a chargesheet that Bangladeshi illegals were running an illegal organ transplant racket.
On 25th January 2025, Delhi Police apprehended seven Bangladeshi nationals Mohammad Bellal, Mohammad Yeasin, Emon Hossein, Mohammad Ghiyas Uddin, Mohammad Rubel Hossain, Nasruddin, and Tanvir Hasan in a hotel in Delhi for overstaying their visa. The Bangladeshi nationals have been deported to Bangladesh.
In May 2024, Manipur CM Biren Singh informed that 5457 illegal immigrants were detected in the state’s Kamjong district and that the process to deport them all was underway. Of these, 359 have voluntarily returned to Myanmar. Before this, 38 illegal immigrants were deported to Myanmar from Manipur, bringing the total number of illegal Myanmarese migrants deported to 77 since 8th March 2024.
In June 2024, OpIndia reported about the Manipur government and security agencies waging a war against fake Aadhaar and Voter ID gangs helping illegal immigrants from Myanmar. The police arrested two illegal infiltrators from Myanmar residing in the Churachandpur district and recovered fake identity cards from them. Similar cases were reported in the following months.
Back in 2018, 10 people were arrested for involvement in two fake Aadhaar card rackets operating from the bordering towns of Jirbhim and Moreh. Of the 10 arrested, 9 were illegal Muslim immigrants from Myanmar. One Indian woman Paritha Begum from Tamil Nadu was also arrested. The police raided the house one Mohammad Tomba at Moreh and seized two laptops, four Aadhaar Cards, one printer machine, one laminating film machine, plastic sheets, DVDs and photo paper.
Similarly, in May 2018, around 98 illegal immigrants with fake Aadhaar cards were arrested from Imphal City.
In October 2021, Assam Rifles troops arrested 24 Burmese illegal immigrants who were travelling with counterfeit Aadhaar cards along the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district. This came about a week after 11 Myanmar nationals were arrested at Imphal Airport while attempting to board a Delhi-bound flight using forged Aadhaar cards.
In January 2025, three Rohingya Muslims including two women were arrested from Kolkata’s Sealdah railway station.
On 28th January 2025, Jaipur Police in Rajasthan detained 500 people, including 394 Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals in a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants. Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph said that the campaign has been launched to address criminal activities and to identify illegal immigrants.
Kapil Sibal is the go-to lawyer in cases that undermine India’s national security
Kapil Sibal, a veteran Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate, has been a consistent legal representative in cases that further the ‘woke Liberal’ cause, especially the ones that involve issues of national security and communal tension. Kapil Sibal represented Shafin Jahan in the Hadiya Love Jihad case, took money from the Islamic terror outfit PFI. In another case, Kapil Sibal sought the release of banned Islamic jihadist outfit PFI’s member and ‘journalist’ Siddique Kappan. He also represented the 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi Riots accused mastermind Umar Khalid before the Supreme Court. Sibal had also joined a group of Rajya Sabha MPs who moved impeachment motion against Allahabad HC judge for calling Islamic extremists “Kathmulla”.
The senior lawyer represented a pro-Pakistan leader in the Supreme Court over a plea challenging the abrogation of Article 370. Sibal earlier falsely claimed that Assam was a part of Myanmar. The legal eagle also represented the All India Muslim Personal Law Board which challenged the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025. After defending Islamists and taking up anti-Hindu causes, Sibal is representing an Bangladeshi illegal’s son in the court.
