The announcement of the SIR has sparked a fresh controversy over the citizenship of Sunali Khatun, the pregnant woman who was deported to Bangladesh on suspicion of being an infiltrator.
The names of her parents were recently found present in the 2002 electoral rolls — a document that the Election Commission considers to be proof of a person or their family members being legitimate voters.
Sunali, her husband and four others, including three minors — all residents of Birbhum’s Murarai area — were deported to Bangladesh in June this year after being detained in Delhi, where they had been working as migrant workers for the past few years.
After their deportation, the family moved the court, and on September 26, Calcutta High Court ordered the Centre to bring them back within four weeks of the judgment.
However, they have not yet been brought back to India after the stipulated time period, and the Union government has moved the Supreme Court on the issue.
The family members of Sunali and the others have also filed a contempt petition in Calcutta High Court.
Although there is no question of Sunali Khatun being enrolled in the 2002 post-SIR electoral roll, as she was born in 1998 and was a child in 2002, the names of her parents feature in that roll online, as posted by the
Election Commission.
According to the 2002 voter list, the names of Sunali Khatun’s father, Bhadu Sheikh, and mother, Jyotsna Bibi, appear in the Murarai Assembly constituency.
In the 2002 electoral roll, Bhadu Sheikh and Jyotsna Bibi are listed as voters and they are in possession of the relevant document that the EC has made accessible on
their website.
“Then why is Sunali still in Bangladesh? We have been waiting for months for her and her children. We have heard that having parents’ names on the electoral roll is enough for their children to be recognised as legitimate voters. In that way, Sunali should also be a voter here. How can the daughter of a legitimate Indian voter become a Bangladeshi infiltrator?” asked Sima Khatun, Sunali’s sister-in-law.
Bhadu Sheikh, a marginal farmer, said he had also heard that having one’s name in the 2002 roll automatically proves a person was a genuine voter of the state. Logically, then, that person who has lived here all his life has Indian children and not infiltrators,
he said.
“Besides that electoral roll, we have all the documents to prove that we are genuine residents of this country and of Murarai in Bengal. Yet my daughter is still in Bangladesh,” lamented the father.
Since Sunali and others were deported, the family — with help from the ruling Trinamool Congress — has been fighting a long legal battle to bring their loved ones
back home.
After Calcutta High Court’s order, a Bangladesh court in Chapainawabganj also declared Sunali and the others to be Indian citizens and instructed the Indian High Commission in Dhaka to arrange their repatriation.
However, they have not yet been brought back, as the central government moved the Supreme Court.
Neighbours of Sunali have raised questions, saying the Election Commission should explain how the daughter of legitimate voters whose names appear in the 2002 list could be deemed a Bangladeshi citizen who infiltrated India.
According to them, Sunali was born in Paikar in Murarai, and her husband, Danish Sheikh — who was also deported — is a resident of the same area and has family connections with names in the 2002 electoral roll.
“We played with Sunali in our childhood, and everyone here knows her family as old residents. Their names also appear in the 2002 voter list. Our question is, why is she still in Bangladesh?” asked Soyef Ali, Sunali’s childhood friend, who completed his master’s degree last year.
An Election Commission official, said there was no problem in filling up the enumeration form to enlist Sunali as a voter and that no document was needed during
that process.
“The family members of that lady (Sunali) can easily fill in the enumeration form on her behalf. Documents will be required only if any doubt arises, and in that case, she will have to appear physically for a hearing to establish her link,” said a senior district official handling election-related work.
“As her return is currently a legal matter, we can only inform her family to fill out the enumeration form on her behalf. That is the primary step. If she returns within that period, there should be no issue if she can prove her connection with voters listed in the 2002 electoral roll,” another poll panel official said.