Sunali Khatun, a pregnant woman who was deported to Bangladesh last year on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi citizen and later brought back to India, gave birth to a baby boy on Monday at Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
Following the birth, Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee congratulated Khatun and said he would meet her at the hospital on Tuesday.
In a post on X, Banerjee said he was “deeply moved” by the news and described Khatun’s deportation as an injustice. He alleged that she was “falsely branded as a Bangladeshi and forcibly deported to Bangladesh by the Delhi Police and the Union government,” calling the episode a violation of her dignity. He praised Khatun’s resilience and said her child’s birth was “a triumph of humanity.”
Khatun returned to India on December 6, 2025, six months after she was deported to Bangladesh in June while pregnant.
Her return, along with that of her eight-year-old son, followed a Supreme Court order.
After coming back, she was admitted to Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital for medical evaluation.
However, four others deported in the same incident remain in Bangladesh, including Khatun’s husband and members of another family.
In June, Delhi Police had arrested six people, including Khatun, on suspicion of being Bangladeshi infiltrators. Despite possessing Indian citizenship documents, they were deported and later detained by Bangladeshi authorities.
Legal proceedings are ongoing in the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court seeking the return of those still held in Bangladesh.