A Bangladeshi taxi driver who was due to be deported after being convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl in his cab has been released from detention as he fights the legality of the decision to revoke his permission to reside in Ireland.
At the High Court, Judge Conleth Bradley ruled Badruzzaman Masum (48) of Swords, Co Dublin, could be conditionally released while his case is proceeding.
The deportation was due to take place on Monday September 28th.
In his High Court judgment, Bradley said he had previously granted the applicants leave to apply for judicial review to challenge the “making and notification” of the August 2026 deportation order.
The judge said Masum entered the State in September 2003 under a student visa, which was regularly renewed and subsequently upgraded in status, allowing him to live in Ireland for almost 23 years until its revocation in June 2026.
The revocation arose from Masum’s conviction at Dublin Circuit Court, following a guilty plea, of sexual assault, contrary to Section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990.
On March 11th, 2025, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment, backdated, and directed that he be incarcerated in Mountjoy Prison. He was also placed on the sex-offenders’ list.
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His victim was an 18-year-old female passenger in his taxi in the early hours of November 27th, 2024. The court heard that he groped her.
He had no previous convictions and was imprisoned at Mountjoy Prison until September 8th, 2026.
The Minister for Justice revoked Masum’s residency permission because of the conviction but Masum challenged the validity of his pre-deportation eight-week detention, which began after he completed his jail sentence.
He argued that the pre-deportation detention could not continue after he had commenced separate High Court proceedings objecting to the deportation.
The judge ruled that “a person cannot be detained for more than an eight-week aggregate period, the time period during which legal proceedings have been instituted is not reckonable as part of that eight-week period”.
Bradley wrote that Masum’s leave to apply for judicial review was granted on October 5th, 2026. The judge said this meant the eight-week detention period had been “effectively paused” until the conclusion of the challenge.
The judge granted the conditional release to be dependent on Masum surrendering all travel documents, that he resides at a Dublin address and comply with all requests made towards him by gardaí or immigration officials.