The Trinamool Congress questioned the silence of the Narendra Modi government on the delay in the return of six members of two families from Bangladesh allegedly deported illegally.

“The Bangla-Birodhi Zamindars of Delhi have shown nothing but disdain for Bengal, and now their arrogance has reached the point of open contempt of court,” the Trinamool expressed on X.

“On 6 September, the Calcutta High Court ordered that six people, including the pregnant Sonali Khatun (also known as Sunali Khatun) who were wrongfully deported to Bangladesh be returned to India within four weeks. That deadline expired today. And where is the Centre? Silent. Inert. Shamefully absent.”

In June this year, two families including Khatun, eight-month pregnant along with her husband and a minor son and that of Sweety Biwi and her two minor children were detained in Delhi suspected of being Bangladeshis and later deported.

A division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra had set aside the central government’s order to deport them and set a deadline of four weeks to bring them back.

In the neighbouring country, all the six including the minors have been arrested on charges of illegal entry into Bangladesh and have been kept at the Chapai Nawabganj correctional home.

On Thursday the process of filing charges against the six at the court in Bangladesh was postponed till November 6.

“First these hapless people were branded “Bangladeshis” and dumped across the border. Then, after a long legal battle, the court found otherwise and ordered their repatriation. The Indian High Commission in Dhaka was asked to facilitate repatriation. But the Centre has shown no urgency, no humanity, and no basic decency to bring them home,” the Trinamool said.

In its order, the high court division bench had asked the central government to make necessary correspondence with the High Commission in Dhaka to facilitate the repatriation process.

Family members of Khatun alleged except for meeting them once at the Bangladesh correctional home little else has been done.

Criticising the Centre’s claim that Sunali Khatun had entered India illegally in 1998, the bench had observed: “Sunali’s Aadhaar and PAN card reflect her date of birth as 26 years, indicating that she was born in the year 2000. Hence, she could not have entered India in 1998.”

The additional solicitor-general of eastern India Ashok Chakrabarty’s plea to stay the order for at least two weeks was rejected by the bench.

“Does being in power give BJP the licence to flout a high court order? To ignore the suffering of women and children? To turn ordinary citizens into bargaining chips in a vindictive, performative game of power,” the Trinamool said.