The Gauhati High Court has ordered the Assam state government to pay 200,000 rupees in compensation over the forced pushback of a Bengali-speaking Muslim woman into Bangladesh.
This marks the first time a court has ordered an Indian state government to pay costs or compensation over a violation of deportation rules in sending someone from India to Bangladesh.
Mumtaz Begum’s family learned she had been forcibly sent from India to Bangladesh after filing a habeas corpus petition with the Gauhati High Court.
The High Court also made India’s Ministry of External Affairs a party to the case.
The court further said it would direct the Indian government to “make efforts” to locate the woman in Bangladesh and bring her back to India.
The High Court also expressed strong displeasure over the role of Assam’s Nagaon Foreigners Tribunal in sending Mumtaz Begum to Bangladesh.
Hearing the habeas corpus petition, a bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Sushmita Phukan Khaund said the record itself made clear that the Foreigners Tribunal’s actions reflected the misuse of law for a malicious purpose.