Rampurhat (West Bengal): Sunali Khatun, a migrant worker from Birbhum district in West Bengal who was brought back from Bangladesh last month following a Supreme Court order, delivered a baby boy at Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital on Monday morning, hospital officials confirmed.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, after speaking with the treating doctors, said the condition of both the mother and the newborn was stable.

“I have spoken to the doctors at the hospital. They have told me that both mother and the infant are stable and are doing fine,” Islam told PTI.

A resident of Murarai in Birbhum, Sunali was taken into custody by Delhi Police in June last year on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi national and was later deported. She returned to India through the Malda border in December along with her minor son Sabir, after the apex court intervened, taking note of her advanced pregnancy.

During her stay in Bangladesh, Sunali was held at the Chapai Nawabganj correctional facility along with five others, including her husband Danesh and son, after being labelled “infiltrators”. A judicial magistrate granted them bail on December 1.

Danesh and three members of another family, related to Sweety Bibi, are yet to be repatriated as the matter continues to be heard by the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the birth, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee welcomed the news and described it as a “triumph of humanity”, while criticising the actions of the Delhi Police and the Union government.

“I am deeply moved and genuinely heartened to learn that Sunali Khatun has given birth to a healthy baby boy at Rampurhat Medical College, Birbhum. This moment of joy feels even more profound against the backdrop of the injustice she was subjected to. In a shocking abuse of power, she was FALSELY BRANDED as a Bangladeshi and FORCIBLY DEPORTED TO BANGLADESH by the Delhi Police and the Union Government,” Banerjee wrote on X.
 

He also announced plans to visit Sunali at the hospital on Tuesday.

“Her ordeal was a violation of dignity that no citizen, least of all a pregnant mother, should ever be forced to endure. Yet, through it all Sunali displayed extraordinary courage and resolve. This is a triumph of humanity. Tomorrow, during my visit to Birbhum, I will personally meet Sunali at the hospital to convey my best wishes to her and her newborn. My prayers remain with her family,” he added.

PTI