Gauhati HC orders Assam to bring back Nagaon woman allegedly pushed back as foreigner

The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to bring back a woman from Nagaon’s Juria who was allegedly pushed back to Bangladesh after being suspected of being a foreigner, according to details of a recent court proceeding.

The court also directed the authorities to pay Rs 2 lakh as interim compensation to the woman’s husband, taking a serious view of the circumstances surrounding her deportation.

The woman, identified as Momtaz Begum, is a resident of Juria in Nagaon district. Another woman, Jahanara Khatun, was also allegedly pushed back after being suspected of being a foreign national.

The court’s intervention has raised questions over the procedure followed by the authorities in identifying and deporting individuals suspected of being foreigners.

The matter has also drawn attention to the legal safeguards applicable to Indian citizens who may be wrongly identified as foreign nationals.

The High Court’s direction to bring Momtaz back to India and compensate her husband is being viewed as a significant development in cases involving alleged wrongful pushbacks from Assam.

Further details of the court’s observations and the circumstances surrounding the two women’s alleged pushback are awaited.