When 25-year-old Sunali Khatun, eight months pregnant, was led away by police from her small home in Delhi’s Rohini Sector 26, she thought it was a routine inquiry, another humiliating but familiar experience for Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants. She could not have imagined that within days she, her husband, and her 8-year-old son would be blindfolded, taken to the border at gunpoint, and pushed into Bangladesh under cover of darkness.
She didn’t know she would soon be sitting in a Bangladeshi jail as her pregnancy entered its final weeks, facing the terrifying possibility of giving birth in a foreign prison, complicating her already fragile claim to a citizenship she has held her entire life.And she certainly didn’t know that her unborn child would become a symbol of one of the most disturbing citizenship crises in recent years.
“Which country will her unborn child go to for their rights?” a neighbour in Paikar village asked. It is a question that now hangs over courts in India and Bangladesh and has drawn scrutiny from global human rights organisations.
A Family’s Descent into Statelessness
Sunali’s father, Bhadu Sheikh, spent 30 years in Delhi, pulling a rickshaw while his wife collected waste paper. Their life was hard, but Delhi was home. When age forced the couple to return to Bengal, Sunali became the family’s breadwinner, doing domestic work. Later, she married Danish Sheikh, a Delhi resident.
Everything changed on June 18, when Delhi Police detained Sunali and Danish despite their Aadhaar and voter ID cards and family roots in both Delhi and Birbhum.“They showed everything,” a family member said. “It didn’t matter.”
The family alleges that Sunali, Danish, and their 8-year-old son were handed over to BSF, then pushed into Bangladesh at the Mehedi border. At gunpoint, they were warned:“If you return, you will be shot.”
International concern escalated when Human Rights Watch issued a damning statement:“India’s ruling BJP is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” said Elaine Pearson, HRW’s Asia director.“The government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk… Their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims.”
HRW cited Bangladeshi border guards who reported that over 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children were expelled between May 7 and June 15 alone.
Courts Intervene ButIgnored
The lawlessness surrounding Sunali’s case is not merely administrative; it’s deliberate defiance.On September 24, the Calcutta High Court ordered the Union government to bring back Sunali, her husband, her son, and three others within four weeks. Nothing happened.Instead, the Centre went to the Supreme Court, where a bench led by CJI Surya Kant reprimanded the government:“As an interim arrangement, the government must first bring all six individuals back to India. Only after their return can authorities examine their documents.”
Yet despite orders from courts, all six remain confined in Bangladesh as deadlines quietly expire.
Sunali’s case is now before the Chapainawabganj District Court in Bangladesh.Advocate ShofiqEnaetullah, representing her there, confirmed that Indian authorities were notified on October 3, after the court reviewed Indian documents and concluded the families are Indian citizens.“We fear that if the baby is born here, her nationality will come into question, and this will further delay Sunali’s return,” Enaetullah said.
When social worker Mofizul Islam met her in court on November 20:“She was crying,” he said.“She desperately wants to return home and deliver the baby in India. She fears giving birth here will trap her forever.”
In Paikar village, Sunali’s father Bhadu Sheikh has fallen silent.“We are poor people. We never imagined we would come under such hostile scrutiny,” he told reporters.“I am waiting to see when I will get my descendants back.”
The family’s documents are extensive as their names appear in the 2002 electoral rolls and land records date back to 1952.
Another Family, the Same Nightmare
Sunali’s ordeal mirrors that of Sweety Bibi, also from West Bengal, who was deported with her two sons, aged six and 16.Her brother, Amir Khan, waits for any update:“Is it because they went to work in Delhi? What wrong did they do?”Bangladeshi courts have ordered their return too but Indian authorities have not responded.
Civil rights groups describe a pattern that has become disturbingly familiar as follows:Mass detentions of Bengali-speaking Muslims in slums; Disregard for Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards; Neighbourhoods branded “illegal colonies”; Families moved to detention-like holding centres; Forced cross-border expulsions; Evictions justified as action against “illegal migrants”; and a journalist summarised it starkly:“Detained without orders. Deported without trials.”
Veteran journalist Samar Halarnkar recounted mob-led raids, often accompanied by police, where families of war veterans were branded “Bangladeshi” or “Rohingya”, terrorised for documents, while police detained the victims rather than the attackers.“In the twisted, bigoted reality of new India,” he wrote, “such terror has become normalised.”
Assam Chief Minister HimantaBiswaSarma, who is known for his communal tone and actions, has defended the practice.“The Supreme Court has told us that those who are declared foreigners have to be returned by whatever means,” he said.But in cases like Sunali’s and Sweety’s, no inquiry, no tribunal, no process was ever conducted.They were simply deported.
Another Stateless Journey
Another case illustrates the broader crisis.Sakina Begum, allegedly pushed into Bangladesh from Assam, spent two months in a Dhaka jail before being granted bail on November 23 and handed into the custody of a woman who sheltered her.“I feel much more at peace now… May Allah bless everyone who helped me,” Sakina said upon release.
Yet she remains stuck in Bangladesh, separated from her daughters in Assam.“There is no clear timeline or process for her repatriation,” her advocate warned.“Her struggle is far from over.”
Nearly all those caught in this sweep share the same demographic: Bengali-speaking,Muslim and, migrant labourers – ragpickers, waste collectors, domestic workers, construction hands.They are the invisible workforce that built and maintains India’s biggest cities.
West Bengal Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam dubbed the deportations “a blatant violation of human rights and constitutional protections.”
For the first time, rights groups, lawyers, and officials in both India and Bangladesh are coordinating to defend Indian citizens mistakenly pushed across a border they never crossed.
By the time this issue goes to press, the Supreme Court is set to revisit the matter on December 1.For Sunali’s family, court dates have become markers of both hope and despair.