As the Calcutta High Court hears the case of Sunali Bibi, a resident of West Bengal’s Birbhum who was pushed into Bangladesh on June 26 after being detained by the Delhi Police, a lingering question remains: what happens if she gives birth in the neighbouring country?
Sunali, who was pushed into Bangladesh alongside her husband, Danish, and eight-year-old son, is eight months pregnant.
Sunali and members of her family have worked as ragpickers and domestic helpers in Delhi for the past two decades. After she was picked up, her family first approached a court in Delhi, but withdrew their plea later. With the help of the West Bengal Migrant Labour Welfare Board, they filed a habeas corpus plea with the Calcutta High Court instead.
“Our last hope is with the court. My daughter is eight months pregnant, due for delivery either at the end of this month or next month. We do not know how they are living in Bangladesh, and whether she is getting care and food. We do not know how she will deliver the baby there. And will the baby be a Bangladeshi citizen?” said her mother, Jyotsnara Bibi, speaking to The Indian Express from her village, Paikar.
Her sister Karishma added, “We can only pray and hope that my sister returns from Bangladesh and delivers the baby here. We are not in touch. Her four-year-old girl, who is with us, cries for her mother every day.”
Like Sunali, Sweety Bibi (32) and her two sons, aged 6 and 16 years, resident of Dhitora village in Birbhum, were also detained and pushed into Bangladesh at the same time. Both families were detained in Delhi’s K N Katju Marg police station and then deported.
A senior Delhi Police official said, “Due procedure was followed and the FRRO reviewed their documents following which they were deported. The matter is subjudice.”
Sunali’s father, Bhodu Sheikh, said that though they are getting support from the migrant board, “nothing has happened so far”. Just days earlier, a video of Sunali and others appealing for help from an undisclosed location in Bangladesh emerged on social media.
“Since the day we heard, we have been standing with the family. We are worried about Sunali’s health since she is eight months pregnant. We are looking to the court to bring them back,” said Samirul Islam, chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Labour Welfare Board and TMC Rajya Sabha MP.
“The habeas corpus was filed on July 8. The Division Bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra has heard the matter twice. On July 7, during the hearing of the case, the court asked the Delhi government to furnish all details regarding the case and asked the Bengal chief secretary to coordinate with the chief secretary of the national capital territory of Delhi,” said Supratik Shyamal, the advocate representing Sunali’s family.
“On July 16, Dhiraj Trivedi, additional solicitor general (for Union of India), highlighted that on June 24, FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office, RK Puram), Delhi, had passed an order of deportation, which took place on June 26… On August 6, the court stated that affidavits filed by all parties should be kept on record and the matter is to be heard on August 20. It is of grave concern that one of the detainees is eight months pregnant,” Shyamal said. “Unlike others who were pushed into Bangladesh but then brought back, there is no trace of these families.”
The family, meanwhile, plans to return to Delhi as households where they work as domestic help have started to call them. Her sister, Karishma, said, “Women work as domestic helps and the men as ragpickers in Delhi. We stay in Rohini, and my mother, my children and I will board a train on Friday. We will carry all relevant papers. I work in two households and get Rs 9,000 a month at each. Money is important. My daughter studies in class five of a government school there. We will have to return.”
The development comes close on the heels of detentions of Bengali migrant labourers in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh during the drive to detain and deport Bangladeshis staying in India illegally.
Nine such people, who were detained in Mumbai and Rajasthan and pushed into Bangladesh, were recently brought back after the intervention of the West Bengal government.
Sunali Bibi was sent to Bangladesh along with her husband, Danish, and son. 
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