Supreme Court Orders Return of Wrongfully Deported Pregnant Indian Citizen from Bangladesh

Sonali Khatun, who is nine months pregnant, has been returned to India following a Supreme Court directive.

A pregnant Indian woman who was wrongfully deported to Bangladesh has successfully returned to India with her eight-year-old son, just two days after the Supreme Court instructed the Centre to facilitate her return.

Sonali Khatun, in her ninth month of pregnancy, crossed back into Indian territory on Friday at West Bengal's Malda district, with district administration officials present to receive them.

The deportation incident occurred on June 27 when Khatun, her husband Danish Sheikh, and their eight-year-old son were among six individuals pushed across the border into Bangladesh. They had been apprehended earlier in the month by Delhi police under allegations of being Bangladeshi nationals who had illegally entered India.

Bhodu Sheikh, Khatun's father, had informed the Supreme Court that his daughter and grandson were waiting on the Bangladesh side of the border, hoping to return to India.

On Wednesday, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the Centre to arrange for Khatun's return, with the government agreeing to do so based on humanitarian considerations.

Justice Bagchi clarified that since Bhodu Sheikh's Indian citizenship was not disputed, under the Citizenship Act, Khatun and her children would automatically qualify as Indian citizens.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also highlighted Khatun's case during an anti-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rally in Malda on Wednesday, questioning, "How are Indian citizens being labelled Bangladeshi? Was Sonali Khatun Bangladeshi? She was Indian. Despite her having Indian documents, you pushed her to Bangladesh using the Border Security Force."