Updated on: Dec 05, 2025 09:41 pm IST
TMC Rajya Sabha member Samirul Islam, who is providing legal assistance to the two families of migrant workers, said Sunali Khatun’s return marked a victory AI Quick Read
KOLKATA: Sunali Khatun, a pregnant woman deported to Bangladesh in June this year, returned to India along with her eight-year-old son through the Mahadipur border in West Bengal’s Malda district on Friday, two days after the Supreme Court nudged the central government to let her return “on humanitarian grounds”.
Sunali Khatun was rushed to Malda Medical College and Hospital for examination as she is in an advanced stage of pregnancy (Screengrab) Sunali Khatun was rushed to Malda Medical College and Hospital for examination as she is in an advanced stage of pregnancy, officials at the border told reporters.
“If doctors declare her fit for travel, then Khatun and her son will be taken to their village in the Paikar area of Birbhum as soon as possible,” a state police officer said, requesting anonymity.
Sunali Khatun and her minor son were picked up from Delhi on June 24 on suspicion that they were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and pushed across the border. The two, who were deported along with her husband, and three members of another family were arrested by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) under the country’s Control of Entry Act and jailed for illegally entering without travel documents.
Officials said the BGB and India’s Border Security Force completed legal procedures on Friday evening to let Khatun and her minor son Sabir Sheikh enter India as ordered by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The order was preceded by long legal battles in India and Bangladesh.
In India, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, which was hearing an appeal by the central government, observed that the matter demanded humanity over technicalities. The Centre has appealed against two orders of the Calcutta high court,
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