Gauhati HC Orders Assam to Pay Rs 2 Lakh Interim Relief in Deportation Case
Gauhati High Court orders Assam to pay Rs 2 lakh interim compensation to the husband of Mumtaz Begum, deported to Bangladesh.
The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to pay Rs 2 lakh as interim compensation to the husband of Mumtaz Begum, a woman who was deported to Bangladesh after being declared a foreigner. The order marks the first instance where a court has imposed a cost on the state for pushing a person into Bangladesh in violation of established deportation rules.
Begum was declared a foreign national by a foreigners tribunal on May 30, following a High Court order to reconsider her case. The High Court later noted that the tribunal had failed to consider all the evidence submitted by her. Subsequently, she was arrested, moved to a detention centre, and on June 14, handed over to the Border Security Force and sent to Bangladesh through an international border point in Sribhumi district.
The bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Susmita Phukan Khaund was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Begum's husband, Mujammel Hoque, a resident of Juria in Nagaon district. The court observed that the woman was expelled from India without any information being provided to her husband or any adult family member.
As an interim palliative measure, the bench directed the state government to pay the compensation within 60 days. The court also ruled that the petitioner could seek additional relief from a civil court.