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Sonali Khatun News: On the orders of the Supreme Court, Sonali Khatun and her son returned to India from Bangladesh via Malda border after six months. Recently, the Supreme Court had given instructions to bring Sonali back. The legal process for the return of the remaining people is ongoing.
Malda: After the order of the Supreme Court, pregnant Sonali Khatoon has returned to India. Sonali Khatoon returned from Bangladesh with her eight-year-old son after six months. Sonali Khatoon’s family returned to India via Malda border. The Sonali family had crossed the border disguised as Bangladeshis. The Supreme Court had ordered the Central Government to send Sonali back. Last Monday, he got bail from a Bangladesh court. The cases of the remaining people are pending in the court.
Amidst the citizenship dispute and allegations of pushback, the way for pregnant Sonali Khatun, resident of Paikor area of Birbhum, to return home has finally opened. A total of six people, including Sonali Khatoon and Sweety Bibi, were released from Chapai Nawabganj Correctional Home on Tuesday evening after they were granted bail by a Bangladesh court. Sonali and her eight-year-old son have already returned, while arrangements are being made to bring back the rest as legal proceedings are underway.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court had on Wednesday given permission to pregnant Sonali and her eight-year-old child, who were deported from Bangladesh, to enter India on ‘humanitarian grounds’. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the West Bengal government to take care of the minor child and the Chief Medical Officer of Birbhum district to provide all possible medical assistance to the pregnant woman Sunali Khatoon.
The bench took note of the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that the competent authority has agreed to allow the woman and her child entry into the country on humanitarian grounds and they will be kept under surveillance. The top court said that ultimately he should be brought back to Delhi, from where he was caught and sent to Bangladesh.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde had urged the court that there were other people in Bangladesh, including Sunali’s husband, who needed to be brought back to India. For this, further instructions can be taken from Mehta Centre. Tushar Mehta said that he will challenge his claim of being an Indian citizen. He said that he believes that he is a Bangladeshi citizen. Mehta said that the Central Government is allowing the woman and her child to come to India only on humanitarian grounds.
Meanwhile, Sonali Khatoon’s father had said that his family has been living in Delhi for the last 20 years and his family works as daily wage laborers in Rohini Sector 26. On June 18, the police caught him on the suspicion of being Bangladeshi and sent him across the border to Bangladesh on June 27.
