Pregnant Indian Woman Returns Home After Wrongful Deportation to Bangladesh: A Fight for Justice

Sonali Khatun, nine months pregnant, has finally returned to India from Bangladesh after a prolonged ordeal.

Six-year-old Afreen could not contain her joy, giggling continuously as her mother, Sonali Khatun, was wheeled into Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital on Saturday afternoon amidst the winter chill and media attention.

Sonali, a migrant resident of Murarai in Birbhum, was arrested by Delhi Police in June on allegations of being a Bangladeshi national. She was subsequently deported to Bangladesh despite her claims of Indian citizenship. Following a Supreme Court directive, she was repatriated through the Malda border on Friday along with her minor son Sabir.

Now admitted to Rampurhat hospital, Sonali will remain under medical observation until she delivers her child, expected later this month or early next.

"Living in a solitary cell of the Bangladeshi prison was torture," Sonali shared from her hospital bed. She recounted spending over a hundred days at the Chapai Nawabgunj correctional facility, where she was labeled an "infiltrator."

"They allowed Sabir to stay with me, but my husband Danesh was taken elsewhere. I worry about him as he hasn't been brought back yet. I'm also concerned about Sweety Bibi and her children whose fates remain uncertain," she said, referring to four other deportees who have been granted bail by a Bangladeshi court but await repatriation.

Little Afreen, who recently lost her milk teeth, held tightly to her eight-year-old brother Sabir at the hospital's gynecological department. Having been separated from her parents and brother for five months, she was unaware of the circumstances that had kept them apart. She had escaped deportation because she was staying with her grandparents in Murarai when her parents were arrested in Delhi.

"That's my mother," Afreen exclaimed with a broad smile, pointing toward Sonali as hospital staff escorted her to the delivery ward on the second floor.

"I'm so happy to be reunited with my daughter and my parents. This wouldn't have happened without Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's support," said Sonali, adding that apart from concern for her unborn child, she felt no major physical discomfort.

Eight-year-old Sabir displayed remarkable composure despite the circumstances. "I have a bit of a throat ache, but I'm fine otherwise," he said, appearing bemused by the media attention his mother was receiving.

Hospital authorities have allowed both of Sonali's children and her mother, Jyotsna Bibi, to stay at the medical facility until she is discharged after delivering her baby.

Earlier that day, Sonali was escorted by state health department officials from Malda, where she had stayed overnight, to Rampurhat hospital. They made a brief stop at Paikar, her native village, where she reunited with her parents and daughter.

Trinamool Congress MP Samirul Islam, who led the legal battle for Sonali and five other deportees, described her return as "a victory of the oppressed against the might of the central government."

"They not only illegally pushed an Indian citizen to Bangladesh to fulfill a communal agenda, but the Centre also went to great lengths to try and prevent her return. This is only half the battle won. The next challenge is to bring back the four others who still remain stuck on the other side of the border," he stated after handing Sonali over to hospital authorities.

TMC MLA from Murarai, Dr. Mosarraf Hossain, has committed to personally covering Sonali's medical expenses during her stay at Rampurhat hospital.