‘Have stopped counting days’: Pushed to Bangladesh, Sweety Bibi and sons continue their agonising wait to return to India

On December 5, a pregnant Sunali was brought back to India along with her son after a flag meeting between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB) following a Supreme Court order, but the rest of the group had to stay back. Thereafter, Sunali gave birth in Bengal and was visited by TMC Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, who also named the baby.

‘You can’t imagine the pain’

Speaking with The Indian Express over the phone from Bangladesh, Sweety said, “I have stopped counting the days. All I hear is that a new date of hearing is there before the Supreme Court. Now it is on February 18. You cannot imagine the pain. What will happen to my two children? We are confined in this house in Bangladesh.”

“Five days back, I spoke with my family members in Bengal over the phone. I have a nine-year-old boy at home. How can he stay without me? My other two children are here with me. How long can we be here like this? My children have a future. Everyone seems to have forgotten about us,” she added. Sweety and her children, along with Sunali’s husband Danish, are living in the house of one Faruk Sheikh, who has been entrusted with their care by a Bangladesh court after bail.

“We were labelled Bangladeshi citizens and pushed into this country. Together, we spent seven days on the Dhaka streets and later came to Chapainawabganj from where we were arrested by the Bangladesh Police and jailed. Like her, we spent three months in jail before being let out on bail by a court here. Me and my sons have suffered in the same way. But she was taken back, and we remain confined to this house,” Sweety added.

Sweety’s brother Amir Khan, who lives in Birbhum district’s Paikar village, said, “Now there are elections in Bangladesh and then the month of Ramzan. Whenever we speak, she breaks down. We have provided all details, including old land deeds of the family, to the court. We have trust in the court. But so far, we have just got dates after dates. Sunali and her boy have been brought back. On the same logic, my sister and her children should have been brought back. But sadly, she is still in Bangladesh.”

‘All papers submitted to court’

Birbhum-based social worker Mofizul Islam says he has been in touch with them over the phone. “What can I say to them? They always ask when they will return. I am trying to provide all support possible,” he said. Islam had assisted the families in Bangladesh and is currently back in Bengal.

“We are standing with the family. Providing all support. We are hopeful that the highest court of the country will allow them to be back home, just like Sunali. All relevant papers indicating they are residents of Bengal have been placed with the court,” said Samirul Islam, TMC Rajya Sabha MP.

The two families were picked up by the K N Katju Marg police in Delhi on June 18, 2025, and were accused of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. On August 21, they were arrested by the police in Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh, under the Passport Act and Foreigners Act and sent to jail after being produced before a local court.

On September 26, a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Ritabrata Kumar Mitra directed that six members of two families from Birbhum — including Sunali — be brought back to West Bengal within four weeks.

On October 3, the senior judicial magistrate of the District Court in Chapainawabganj, declared both families as Indian citizens based on their Aadhaar cards and residential addresses in West Bengal, ordering their “pushback” to India. All of them got bail from the Chapainawabganj court on December 1.