A pregnant Muslim woman from West Bengal who had been pushed into Bangladesh earlier this year on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant returned to India on Friday after the Supreme Court intervened, officials said.
Sunali Khatun, 25, re-entered India along with her eight-year-old son through the Mehadipur border outpost in Malda district after a flag meeting between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB).
Sunali, her husband Danish Sheikh, their son, and another woman, Sweety Bibi (32), along with her two children aged 16 and six, all residents of Birbhum district, were picked up by the Delhi Police from a colony in the national capital and pushed across the India-Bangladesh border on June 26, nearly a week after being held in detention. At the time of her deportation, Sunali was pregnant.
While the union government has contested the citizenship of the remaining four family members, it agreed to bring Sunali back on “humanitarian grounds.” Danish, Sweety Bibi and her children continue to remain in Bangladesh.
Speaking to reporters after crossing the border, Sunali Khatun said, “I am very happy to return to India… I just want my husband to be brought back safely as well.”
Both families were arrested in Bangladesh on August 21 under the Passport Act and Foreigners Act. They were granted bail by the Chapainawabganj district court on December 1 and stayed at the home of Faruk Sheikh, a relative of Sunali, with the court’s permission.
West Bengal Migrant Labourers Welfare Board chairman and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam welcomed Sunali’s return.
In a post on X, he wrote, “Finally, after a long battle against the Bangla-Birodhi Zamindars, Sunali Khatun and her minor son have returned to India. This day will be remembered as a historic moment that exposes the torture and atrocities inflicted on poor Bengalis. Sunali, who was pregnant at the time, was forcibly deported in June this year. After six months of unimaginable suffering, she and her child have at last returned to their homeland.”
Islam further alleged that the central government failed to act despite the Supreme Court’s order. “Despite the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s clear order, the anti-poor central government failed to take any action over the past two days to ensure their immediate return. Our advocates were compelled to mention the matter again before the Supreme Court today, and only then was the return made possible,” he said.
On September 26, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court had directed that all six members of the two families be brought back to West Bengal within four weeks. Later, on October 3, the senior judicial magistrate of the Chapainawabganj District Court declared the families Indian citizens based on their Aadhaar details and residential addresses, ordering their repatriation.
After entering India on Friday, Sunali and her son were handed over to the West Bengal Police and taken to Malda Medical College and Hospital, where they will remain under observation.
“We are following the instructions of the state government based on the Supreme Court order,” said Sudipto Bhaduri, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Malda Medical College.
“The two will be kept under medical observation for at least 24 hours. A team of doctors has been formed to evaluate her condition. Though she is stable, she has anaemia, and doctors are treating it. Once she is medically cleared, further steps will be taken.”
AITC State General Secretary and West Bengal SC&ST Commission Chairman Tanmoy Ghosh also condemned the incident, saying, “Her only ‘crime’? Speaking Bengali. If this doesn’t wake Bengalis up, what will? The BJP’s contempt for Bengali identity stands exposed, they didn’t even spare a pregnant woman.”
Lawyer Sanjay Hegde, expressing relief said, “Sometimes lawyering is its own reward. A visibly pregnant Sunali Khatun returns home to India with her son Sabir.”
“I must thank @SamirulAITC for all his efforts in this case. Mother India’s governments may make mistakes, but Ma, Mati, Manush, in this case are all wholly and undoubtedly Indian,” he said.
The Indian government has come under scrutiny over allegations of systemic bias against Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are often labelled as “Bangladeshi infiltrators” without due process, with critics arguing that the Union government’s actions are discriminatory and unconstitutional.
