Madras High Court directs Bangladeshi nationals to be deported within 30 days of completing their sentences

On 19 June 2025, police found 25 persons, including the appellant, staying at a house in Tiruppur. The prosecution case was that they were Bangladeshi nationals who had entered India without valid travel documents; Bangladesh National Identity Cards were seized.

The appellant was charged under Sections 3(2)(c) read with 14 of the Foreigners Act. The Sessions Court convicted him under Section 14(A) of the Act and imposed two years’ simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹10,000, with one month’s simple imprisonment in default.

On appeal, the appellant challenged the fairness of the Tamil-language proceedings and the translator’s competence, and sought relief concerning the fine’s default sentence. The State relied on the prosecution evidence and submitted that deportation procedures required verification of identity and issuance of travel permits.

Whether the evidence justified the appellant’s conviction under Section 14(A) of the Foreigners Act, including in light of the appellant’s contention that he lacked an effective opportunity to understand and defend the proceedings.

Whether the sentence, particularly the one-month default imprisonment for non-payment of the fine, required modification in view of the appellant’s financial circumstances.

Whether the authorities should be directed to complete deportation within a specified period after the appellant serves his sentence.

The Court considered Section 14(A) of the Foreigners Act, under which the appellant was convicted, and the prosecution’s case under Section 3(2)(c) read with Section 14 of that Act.

It relied on Shahejad Khan Mahebukhan Pathan v. State of Gujarat, 2013 (1) SCC 570, in addressing the default sentence in light of the appellant’s asserted poverty.

It also relied on Maja Daruwala v. State of West Bengal, 2025 Law Finder SC 4783, and the Ministry of Home Affairs circular dated 23 November 2009, including clause 2(v), for the direction that the deportation process be completed within 30 days.

The appellant invoked Central Bureau of Investigation v. Narottam Dhakad, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1069, on the asserted denial of an effective opportunity to defend himself.

The Court found that the police witnesses’ evidence and the seized Bangladeshi identity cards established that the appellant was a Bangladeshi citizen who had entered India without valid documents; it therefore upheld the conviction.

Although the appellant had raised concerns about language and the translator, the Court did not separately analyse those contentions in its reasons for affirming the conviction.

As to sentence, the Court noted the appellant’s poverty and inability to pay the fine, but left the fine and two-year term of imprisonment intact, reducing only the default imprisonment by applying Shahejad Khan.

Applying Maja Daruwala and the MHA circular, it directed the authorities to complete deportation within 30 days after the sentence and default sentence had been served.

The authorities were directed to deport the appellant, along with the children referred to in the judgment, to Bangladesh within 30 days after completion of the sentence and default sentence.