Ending months of ordeal including a forceful ‘pushback’ to Bangladesh, then subsequent detention in a foreign land for 3 months - 26-year-old Sunali Khatun and her eight-year-old son returned to India on Friday evening , crossing the border at the Malda district under tight security arrangements by Border Security Force (BSF).
The repatriation followed a directive from the Supreme Court of India, which had asked the government to bring back Sunali and her child on “humanitarian grounds.” The Central government had earlier challenged the repatriation order from Calcutta High Court before the Supreme Court but amidst public furore, finally agreed to bring nine month pregnant Sunali and her 8 year old son to India on “humanitarian grounds”. Sunali had been deported to Bangladesh in June this year after she and others were picked up by police in Delhi on suspicion of being illegal immigrants following the April Pahalgam attack. She was later taken to Assam on June 26 and allegedly pushed into Bangladesh without any trial. Sunali had alleged that she and her husband along with children were subjected to human rights violations before being abandoned in dark through the barbed wires. Her claims have been refuted by the Centre but no clarification as yet as whether she has been a victim of mistaken identity and if the Delhi police were at fault.
According to officials, the handover took place around 7 pm when she was handed over to an officer of deputy high-commissioner rank. She and her son were first taken to a BSF camp for formalities and then shifted to Malda Medical College and Hospital for medical check-ups. “As Sonali Khatun walks back into India today, Bengal’s long struggle finds its justice. The BJP’s Bangla-birodhi politics tried to brand her an outsider for speaking Bengali, but we refused to accept that insult. From the courts to the streets, our collective voice kept pushing, and today she returns to the country that is rightfully hers. Today, she returns because Bengal did not back down” wrote Trinamool Congress while hitting out at the BJP. The state government of Mamata Banerjee had even moved to Supreme Court seeking her repatriation. “People are persecuted for speaking the Bengali language. History will never forgive BJP for what they did to pregnant Sunali Khatun”, Mamata Banerjee had lashed out at a public meeting in Murshidabad on Thursday.
While Sunali and her son are back on Indian soil, four other members of the same group - including her husband and other deportees - remain in Bangladesh. There is still no clarity on when they will be repatriated. The return has ignited emotional responses among community leaders and political figures. Samirul Islam, a Rajya Sabha MP, described the moment as “historic,” saying it exposes the “atrocities imposed on poor Bengalis.” Sunali’s journey - from being detained in Delhi, deported through an unofficial route, jailed in Bangladesh while heavily pregnant, granted bail only days ago, to finally walking across the border into India today - highlights complex issues at the intersection of citizenship, migration policy, and humanitarian law. For now, at least she and her son are home.
