Madras High Court directs authorities to deport convicted Bangladeshi family and their children within 30 days of sentence completion

The appellants, two men and one woman, were apprehended in Tiruppur with two children.

The prosecution case was that they were Bangladeshi nationals who had entered India without valid travel documents and had lived there for several years.

The trial court convicted them under Section 14A(b) of the Foreigners Act and imposed two years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹10,000 each, with three months’ simple imprisonment in default.

In appeal, they challenged the conviction and sentence, including on the ground that the proceedings were conducted in Tamil despite their inability to understand it and that the interpreter’s competency had not been established.

The State relied on the evidence and identity documents said to establish their Bangladeshi nationality and lack of valid entry documents.

Whether the evidence justified affirming the appellants’ convictions under Section 14A(b), including in light of their claim that they could not understand the trial proceedings.

Whether the default term of imprisonment for non-payment of the fine should be reduced in view of the appellants’ financial circumstances.

Whether the authorities should be directed to deport the appellants and their children after completion of their sentences, and within what period.

The Court applied Section 14A(b) of the Foreigners Act, as identified in the judgment, to the offence of entering or remaining in India without the requisite valid documents.

It relied on Maja Daruwala v. State of West Bengal, cited as 2025 Law Finder SC 4783, and the Ministry of Home Affairs circular dated 23 November 2009, particularly paragraph 2(v), concerning verification and deportation of Bangladeshi nationals; the Court treated the deportation process as one to be completed within 30 days.

On the fine’s default sentence, it relied on Shahejad Khan Mahebukhan Pathan v. State of Gujarat, (2013) 1 SCC 570, in considering the appellants’ financial circumstances.

The appellants also cited Central Bureau of Investigation v. Narottam Dhakad, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1069, on effective opportunity and Article 21; the judgment records that submission but does not set out a separate application of that decision.

The Court found the appellants’ Bangladeshi nationality and absence of valid entry documents established by the prosecution evidence, including identity and citizenship documents, and upheld the trial court’s conviction.

Although the appellants raised a fair-trial objection concerning language and interpretation, the Court did not separately analyse that contention before concluding that the conviction should stand.

For sentence, it considered their poverty, employment on daily wages, and family circumstances, but retained the fines and custodial terms while reducing the default imprisonment from three months to one week.

Applying the deportation procedure referred to in Maja Daruwala and the 2009 circular, it directed that deportation follow completion of the sentences.

The convictions under Section 14A(b) and the two-year terms of rigorous imprisonment were confirmed; the fines of ₹10,000 each were also retained, but the default sentence was reduced to one week.

The concerned authorities were directed to deport the appellants, along with their children, to Bangladesh within 30 days after they completed their imprisonment and any default sentence.