Sunali Khatun.
Credit: PTI Photo
Rampurhat: Deported migrant worker Sunali Khatun from West Bengal’s Birbhum, who was repatriated from Bangladesh following a Supreme Court order on December 5, gave birth to a baby boy at Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital on Monday morning, hospital sources said.
According to Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, who spoke to the attending doctors, both the mother and the newborn were stable.
"I have spoken to the doctors at the hospital. They have told me that both mother and the infant are stable and are doing fine," Islam told PTI.
Sunali, a migrant resident of Murarai in Birbhum district, was arrested by the Delhi Police in June last year on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi national and was subsequently pushed to the neighbouring country.
She was brought back to India through the Malda border last month along with her minor son Sabir, following a Supreme Court directive that took note of her advanced stage of pregnancy.
In Bangladesh, Sunali and five others -- including her son and husband Danesh, who were deported together -- were lodged at the Chapai Nawabganj correctional facility since August 20 as alleged "infiltrators" before a judicial magistrate granted them bail on December 1.
Danesh and three members of the family of Sweety Bibi are yet to be brought back amid an ongoing repatriation battle at the apex court.
Responding to Sunali's motherhood, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee expressed joy and called the development a "triumph of humanity" amid "shocking abuse of power by the Delhi Police and the Union government".
"I am deeply moved and genuinely heartened to learn that Sunali Khatun has given birth to a healthy baby boy at Rampurhat Medical College, Birbhum. This moment of joy feels even more profound against the backdrop of the injustice she was subjected to. In a shocking abuse of power, she was FALSELY BRANDED as a Bangladeshi and FORCIBLY DEPORTED TO BANGLADESH by the Delhi Police and the Union Government," Banerjee wrote on X.
The TMC MP announced that he would meet Sunali at the hospital on Tuesday to convey his best wishes to the mother and her newborn.
"Her ordeal was a violation of dignity that no citizen, least of all a pregnant mother, should ever be forced to endure. Yet, through it all Sunali displayed extraordinary courage and resolve. This is a triumph of humanity. Tomorrow, during my visit to Birbhum, I will personally meet Sunali at the hospital to convey my best wishes to her and her newborn. My prayers remain with her family," Banerjee added in his social media post.