Overview
- Sunali Khatun, who is pregnant, and her eight-year-old son crossed into West Bengal via the Malda border on Friday and were taken for BSF formalities before medical evaluation at Malda Medical College and Hospital.
- Only two of the six deported family members returned despite Supreme Court directions, with Sunali’s husband and three others still in Bangladesh after securing bail on December 1.
- The Supreme Court recorded the Centre’s commitment to bring back Sunali and her son on humanitarian grounds and directed that her care be provided in West Bengal.
- Earlier, the Calcutta High Court found the deportations hasty and improper, noting records such as 1952 land deeds, 2002 electoral rolls naming Sunali’s parents, Aadhaar and PAN details, and children’s birth certificates, while cautioning against reliance on custodial confessions.
- The group was detained in Delhi on June 18 and pushed to Bangladesh under FRRO action linked in court filings to a May 2 MHA instruction, with accountability for the process and the timeline for the remaining repatriations still unresolved.