Four West Bengal residents return from Bangladesh following Supreme Court order

PTI, July 8, 2026, Kolkata : Nearly a year after they were allegedly pushed into Bangladesh following their arrest in Delhi on suspicion of being infiltrators, four residents of West Bengal’s Birbhum district returned to India on Wednesday following a Supreme Court order, a senior official said.

The returnees include Sweety Bibi, her two minor sons, and Danish Sheikh, the husband of Sonali Khatun, who was repatriated from the neighbouring country following a Supreme Court order on December 5.

The authorities facilitated their entry through the Mahadipur Integrated Check Post in Malda’s English Bazar block before arranging their transportation to Birbhum, officials said.

According to the police, the four, along with pregnant Sonali Khatun and her minor son, were arrested by Delhi Police on June 22 last year while they were working as hawkers in the national capital. Their families alleged that they were picked up because they were speaking Bengali and the police suspected them of being infiltrators.

The group was subsequently taken to Assam and allegedly pushed across the border into Bangladesh, where they remained stranded. Their families later approached the Calcutta High Court, and the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court.

Sonali was brought back to India through the Malda border in December last year along with her son, Sabir, following a Supreme Court directive that took note of her advanced stage of pregnancy. She gave birth to a baby boy in January.

Others, however, continued their legal battle for the return of the remaining four.

“My sister and the others were detained by Delhi Police only because they were speaking Bengali. On May 22 this year, the Supreme Court directed that they be brought back from Bangladesh. We are extremely happy that they have finally returned home today,” Amir Khan, brother of Sweety Bibi, told reporters.

Officials said the administration made arrangements to transport the family members to their native village in Birbhum after they completed the formalities at the border.

Responding to the development, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam described the return as the culmination of a long legal battle.

“The long-awaited dream of poor illegal deportees of Birbhum has finally come true. After a legal battle that lasted for more than a year, Sweety Bibi, her two minor sons and Sonali Khatun’s husband have finally returned to their motherland. Sonali Khatun had already returned in December last year,” Islam said in a post on X.

It was only because of the judiciary’s intervention that the Union Government was ultimately compelled to bring back these poor Indian citizens who had allegedly been deported to Bangladesh on suspicion of being infiltrators, he said.

Islam added that while action against illegal infiltrators was necessary, “genuine Indian citizens should not be subjected to harassment and injustice in the name of deportation.”

He also thanked the lawyers who represented the families and said the Supreme Court’s direction for the return of those stranded in Bangladesh had finally been implemented, allowing the affected families to reunite after months of separation.