Nearly a year after allegedly being pushed into Bangladesh despite claiming Indian citizenship, four residents of Birbhum district returned to India on Wednesday through the India-Bangladesh international border at Mahadipur in Malda district. The return followed a prolonged legal battle that culminated in intervention by the Supreme Court.
According to administrative officials, Sweety Bibi, her two minor children and Danish Sheikh, the husband of Sonali Khatun, were brought back to India through the Mahadipur Integrated Check Post in the English Bazar block of Malda. Local authorities coordinated the repatriation process. Sonali Khatun had earlier returned to India in December last year following a court order.
Family Alleges Wrongful Deportation After Detention in Delhi
Family members alleged that the group was detained by Delhi Police on June 22 last year while working as hawkers in the national capital. According to the family, they were suspected of being Bangladeshi nationals after speaking Bengali and were subsequently taken to Assam before being allegedly pushed across the border into Bangladesh. The relatives maintain that all five were Indian citizens and were wrongfully deported despite possessing legitimate claims to Indian nationality. A relative of Sweety Bibi said the family had approached the High Court seeking their release before the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court.
“They were arrested in Delhi on suspicion of being Bangladeshi and later pushed into Bangladesh through the Assam border. They remained imprisoned in Bangladesh for a long time. After a legal battle, the Supreme Court ordered that they be brought back as Indian citizens. Today, Sweety Bibi, her two children and Danish Sheikh have finally returned home,” the relative said.
Sweety Bibi’s brother, Aamir Khan, expressed relief over their return. “On June 22 last year, they were arrested simply because they spoke Bengali. On June 22 this year, the Supreme Court directed that they be brought back from Bangladesh. Today, we are extremely happy that they have finally returned home,” he said.
TMC MP Calls Return a ‘Victory of Truth and Justice’
Reacting to the development, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam described the return as “the victory of truth and justice.” In a post on X, the MP wrote that the prolonged legal battle had finally ended, allowing Sweety Bibi, her two children and Danish Sheikh to reunite with their family in India. He noted that Sonali Khatun had already returned in December.
“The long wait is over. The tears in the eyes of these helpless people today are tears of relief and the joy of returning to their homeland. Those who were branded as ‘infiltrators’ and wrongfully sent to Bangladesh are finally breathing on their own soil again. This is the victory of truth and justice,” he wrote.
Islam also thanked the judiciary for its intervention. “I humbly salute the Indian judiciary. It was only because of the strong intervention of the Supreme Court that these poor but genuine Indian citizens could finally return home.”
MP Urges Safeguards Against Wrongful Deportation of Citizens
He reiterated that action against illegal immigration should not result in the wrongful deportation of Indian citizens.
“We have no objection to the deportation of genuine illegal infiltrators. Our concern is why poor and genuine citizens of this country should suffer such grave injustice in the name of identifying infiltrators.”
The MP stated that the Supreme Court had directed the authorities on May 22 to facilitate the immediate return of those stranded in Bangladesh. Although the implementation took some time, the order has now been carried out. Islam also expressed gratitude to the legal team, including advocates Sanjay Hegde, Soumya Dutt and Raghunath Chakraborty, for representing the families during the legal proceedings. He added that his party had supported the affected families throughout the case and hoped that no Indian citizen would face a similar ordeal in the future.
