In another life, 26-year-old Sunali Khatun might have lived an anonymous existence in Birbhum, West Bengal. Instead, she now finds herself in a Bangladesh jail, eight months pregnant, with no clarity over which country her unborn child will belong to.
Sunali’s plight echoes shades of Manto’s Toba Tek Singh, a character who found himself with no land to claim as his own. Branded an “illegal immigrant” first by Indian police and then by Bangladeshi authorities, she has been pushed across borders and stripped of any belonging, despite holding an Aadhaar card and a voter identity card.
On Thursday, police in Chapai Nawabganj arrested her and five others, citing the same identity documents as proof of their “illegal” entry. By Friday, Sunali and her family were escorted to prison.
The group includes Sunali, her ragpicker husband Danish Sheikh, their toddler son Sabir, and three others from West Bengal: Sweety Biwi and her sons Qurban Sheikh (16) and Imam Dewan (6).
“Nowhere people”
The six had been living hand-to-mouth in Delhi’s Rohini, eking out a livelihood as daily wage earners, until their arrest during an “identity verification drive”. They were deported through Assam on 26 June and have since wandered across Bangladesh, only to be arrested again for “loitering”.
“They told us they were Indians who had entered Bangladesh through the Kurigram border, roamed Dhaka for some days and then reached Chapai Nawabganj,” said district police superintendent Md Rezaul Karim, adding that none of the six had legal representation during their first court appearance.
They now face charges under the Control of Entry Act, 1952, and will remain in custody until the next hearing in September.
Families fight back
For Sunali’s father Bhodi Sk, the biggest worry is that his daughter may be forced to give birth inside prison. “We are poor. We have filed a habeas corpus in Calcutta High Court. What else can we do?” he said.
Neighbours in Birbhum have been pooling resources to arrange a lawyer in Bangladesh. The habeas corpus petition, filed by Bhodi and co-petitioner Amir Khan (a relative of Sweety Khatun), calls the deportation a “betrayal of law”. The Calcutta High Court is scheduled to hear the case on 10 September.
Meanwhile, a PIL in the Supreme Court, listed for 29 August, will examine allegations of harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants in India, including Sunali’s alleged “illegal deportation”.
Samirul Islam, Rajya Sabha MP and chairperson of the Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, said: “We are making every effort to bring back Sunali and the others. Legal assistance is also being provided.”
The case has revived questions over the treatment of Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in India. Just last month, 22-year-old Amir Sheikh, another labourer from Malda, mysteriously reappeared in India after being “pushed” into Bangladesh. Arrested in Rajasthan as an “illegal Bangladeshi”, Amir had been missing since 25 June. When he re-entered India on 13 August via Basirhat, the BSF told the court he had crossed into Bangladesh “inadvertently”.
For Sunali, however, freedom remains elusive. Caught between bureaucracies, borders and indifference, she waits in a Bangladesh prison, her unborn child’s nationality uncertain, her identity suspended between two nations that have both disowned her.
Sunali’s plight echoes shades of Manto’s Toba Tek Singh, a character who found himself with no land to claim as his own. Branded an “illegal immigrant” first by Indian police and then by Bangladeshi authorities, she has been pushed across borders and stripped of any belonging, despite holding an Aadhaar card and a voter identity card.
On Thursday, police in Chapai Nawabganj arrested her and five others, citing the same identity documents as proof of their “illegal” entry. By Friday, Sunali and her family were escorted to prison.
The group includes Sunali, her ragpicker husband Danish Sheikh, their toddler son Sabir, and three others from West Bengal: Sweety Biwi and her sons Qurban Sheikh (16) and Imam Dewan (6).
“Nowhere people”
The six had been living hand-to-mouth in Delhi’s Rohini, eking out a livelihood as daily wage earners, until their arrest during an “identity verification drive”. They were deported through Assam on 26 June and have since wandered across Bangladesh, only to be arrested again for “loitering”.
“They told us they were Indians who had entered Bangladesh through the Kurigram border, roamed Dhaka for some days and then reached Chapai Nawabganj,” said district police superintendent Md Rezaul Karim, adding that none of the six had legal representation during their first court appearance.
They now face charges under the Control of Entry Act, 1952, and will remain in custody until the next hearing in September.
Families fight back
For Sunali’s father Bhodi Sk, the biggest worry is that his daughter may be forced to give birth inside prison. “We are poor. We have filed a habeas corpus in Calcutta High Court. What else can we do?” he said.
Neighbours in Birbhum have been pooling resources to arrange a lawyer in Bangladesh. The habeas corpus petition, filed by Bhodi and co-petitioner Amir Khan (a relative of Sweety Khatun), calls the deportation a “betrayal of law”. The Calcutta High Court is scheduled to hear the case on 10 September.
Meanwhile, a PIL in the Supreme Court, listed for 29 August, will examine allegations of harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants in India, including Sunali’s alleged “illegal deportation”.
Samirul Islam, Rajya Sabha MP and chairperson of the Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, said: “We are making every effort to bring back Sunali and the others. Legal assistance is also being provided.”
The case has revived questions over the treatment of Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in India. Just last month, 22-year-old Amir Sheikh, another labourer from Malda, mysteriously reappeared in India after being “pushed” into Bangladesh. Arrested in Rajasthan as an “illegal Bangladeshi”, Amir had been missing since 25 June. When he re-entered India on 13 August via Basirhat, the BSF told the court he had crossed into Bangladesh “inadvertently”.
For Sunali, however, freedom remains elusive. Caught between bureaucracies, borders and indifference, she waits in a Bangladesh prison, her unborn child’s nationality uncertain, her identity suspended between two nations that have both disowned her.
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