Son Petitions Supreme Court Over Mother Deported After Voter-Roll Deletion

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Central government on a petition by the son of a West Bengal woman, Sahida Fakir, who was pushed into Bangladesh after her name was deleted from the electoral roll during the special intensive revision, Bar & Bench reported. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana heard the plea seeking directions to bring her back to India. Senior Advocate S Muralidhar appeared for the petitioner. ^{[1] [1]}

According to the petition as reported, Fakir is a permanent resident of Gobindapur in North 24 Parganas district, with her grandfather's name in the 1952 electoral roll and her parents' names in the 2002 roll. She moved to Mumbai about 20 years ago and worked as a domestic worker. On July 19, persons in plain clothes identifying themselves as police took her to a holding centre in Chembur and seized her Aadhaar card and phone without a receipt, the report said. ^{[1] [1]}

The petition contended that no competent authority conducted a fair inquiry into her nationality, examined her records, gave her notice of the allegation, or an effective opportunity to establish citizenship before her liberty was deprived. After about five days she was handed to the BSF, flown toward the north-east and pushed across the border late at night with around 20 other detainees, and remains in temporary shelter there, it was submitted. The petitioner argued that deletion from the roll during the SIR does not determine citizenship and that an appeal against the deletion is pending. ^{[1] [1]}

The case sits against a broader record. In April 2026 the Supreme Court declined to entertain writ petitions from people aggrieved by roll deletions in West Bengal and directed them to appellate tribunals formed to hear such appeals; it said mere pendency of an appeal gives no right to vote. In June 2026 the same court asked a tribunal to decide expeditiously, preferably within two months, the appeal of an advocate deleted from the list. ^{[4] [4] [5]}