5 reasons why Gauhati High Court rules that foreign nationals awaiting expulsion can’t claim illegal detention

The Gauhati High Court found "no basis" to suspect any government officer of “irresponsible, illegal or reckless act” in sending the petitioner’s wife back to Bangladesh. (Image is enhanced using AI)

The Gauhati High Court recently held that a foreign national (illegal immigrant) who is taken into custody while awaiting expulsion cannot claim that the custody is illegal on the grounds of non-service of arrest grounds. The court was hearing a plea filed by a man whose wife was expelled to Bangladesh.

A bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Shamima Jahan dismissed the plea of Abdul Rejjak, whose wife, Doyjan Bibi, was declared a foreign national (illegal migrant) through an ex parte opinion in 2017.

She was initially taken into custody in 2019. However, she was released on bail in 2021 due to COVID-19 relaxations and was again taken into custody in May 2025 before being expelled to Bangladesh.

The high court rejected the plea, listing the following reasons: Without commenting on other countries’ positions concerning illegal immigrants, the court noted that developed nations like the United States of America have also started to feel the “pinch of illegal immigrants,” and the steps taken by them are in the public domain.

The high court, in its January 6 order, held that there was no basis to suspect any government officer of taking any “irresponsible, illegal or reckless act” in sending the petitioner’s wife back to Bangladesh.

The petitioner’s wife was declared an illegal migrant in 2017, which he later challenged before the Gauhati High Court.

In 2021, the high court set aside the ex parte opinion of the Foreigners Tribunal, which had declared her an “illegal migrant”, and granted her 15 days to appear before the tribunal and file a written statement. However, Bibi did not appear, resulting in the revival of the ex parte opinion.

She was taken into custody as a declared “foreign national” awaiting expulsion in May 2025 and was later sent back to Bangladesh.