Two days after the Supreme Court pressed the Centre to rectify its mistake, a pregnant woman who had been wrongfully deported to Bangladesh has finally been brought back to Indian soil. Sonali Khatun, who is nine months pregnant, crossed into Malda district in West Bengal on Friday evening through the Mahadipur border point, ending a months-long ordeal that began with her disputed removal from the country.
Khatun arrived with her eight-year-old son and was welcomed by district authorities, including zilla parishad sabhadhipati Lipika Ghosh and several Trinamool Congress leaders. Officials then escorted her to Malda Medical College and Hospital for medical evaluation, where doctors began assessing when she would be fit enough to undertake the journey to her home in Birbhum, roughly four and a half hours away.
Family Deported Despite Indian Identity Documents
The case first drew national attention after Khatun, her husband Danish Sheikh, and their son were among six people pushed across the border on June 27. Delhi Police had detained them earlier in June, alleging they were Bangladeshi nationals who had entered illegally. Lawyers for the family stated that they possessed Aadhaar and other identity papers, raising serious questions about how they were classified as foreign nationals.
Her father, Bhodu Sheikh, later informed the Supreme Court that his daughter and grandson had been stranded on the Bangladesh side of the border, awaiting permission to return.
Host Family In Bangladesh Details Ordeal
During their months in Bangladesh, the group had been sheltered by a local couple, Farooq and Mumtaj Hossain, after being released on bail. The couple said doctors in Chapai Nawabganj had initially considered inducing Khatun’s labour but abandoned the plan after Border Guard Bangladesh insisted she be transferred to the BSF without delay.
Husband and Others Still Await Repatriation
Although Khatun and her son have now re-entered India, her husband Danish Sheikh remains in Bangladesh, still waiting for the repatriation process to conclude. Also stuck across the border are fellow Birbhum resident Sweety Biwi and her two children, who were deported in the same operation.
Before their detention, the group survived by working as ragpickers in Delhi. Their forced removal on June 26 triggered widespread criticism, intensifying after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee highlighted Khatun’s case at an anti-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rally in Malda earlier this week.