SC allows pregnant woman, child to re-enter India from Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds

A pregnant woman and her eight-year-old child, months after being pushed into Bangladesh, have been permitted to re-enter India following a Supreme Court directive on December 3 that framed the situation as a humanitarian priority.

A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi instructed the West Bengal government to ensure the child’s welfare and directed the chief medical officer of Birbhum district to provide full medical assistance to the woman, Sunali Khatun.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that the Centre had agreed to allow the pair back into India solely on humanitarian grounds and that they would remain under surveillance after crossing the border. The Bench added that the two would later be brought to Delhi, from where they were originally detained before being sent to Bangladesh.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Hegde urged the court to consider others reportedly stranded in Bangladesh, including Khatun’s husband. Mehta said he would contest their claim of Indian citizenship and maintained that authorities regard them as Bangladeshi nationals, clarifying that the present relief was limited to the woman and her child.

Khatun’s father has alleged that the family, who had worked as daily wage earners in Delhi’s Rohini area for more than two decades, were detained on June 18 on suspicion of being Bangladeshi citizens and were pushed across the border on 27 June. The Supreme Court’s order now reverses part of that action while broader questions of nationality remain unresolved.