Sunali Khatun, the pregnant woman who had been deported to Bangladesh in June and repatriated to India in December following a Supreme Court order, gave birth to a boy on Monday at Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital in Birbhum.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee congratulated Sunali, who had earlier expressed her wish that Mamata name her newborn, citing the support she had received from the state government and the ruling party during the long legal battle to bring her back to India.

“I congratulate her (Sunali). I have asked for flowers and sweets to be sent to her. If they want, I will certainly name her baby,” Mamata told reporters at Gangasagar on Monday.

The birth of Sunali’s child in India has come as a great relief to her family, who had been deeply worried about her future if she had been forced to deliver the baby in Bangladesh, a foreign land.

“It is a great relief for us. We are happy that my daughter returned to her own land and gave birth to her baby here. We were extremely worried when she was in Bangladesh,” said Jyotsna Biwi, Sunali’s mother, at
the hospital.

Sunali, a resident of Paikar village in Murarai, Birbhum, was detained in New Delhi by police and deported to Bangladesh, along with her eight-year-old son and five others, after being branded as Bangladeshi nationals.

After spending in a Bangaldesh jail for nearly five months and a prolonged legal battle in Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court, Sunali was finally brought back to India on humanitarian grounds along with her minor son on December 5.

However, the remaining four individuals, including two minors, are still in Bangladesh, and the hearing in the Supreme Court regarding their repatriation is scheduled for Tuesday.

Besides congratulating Sunali on the birth of her son, Abhishek condemned the injustice meted out to her and wished to meet her at the hospital on Tuesday, during his visit to Birbhum to attend a political rally.

“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,” Abhishek wrote on his official social media hanle.

“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...,” he added.

Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Samirul Islam, who took the initiative on behalf of the party to support Sunali’s family in their legal battle, visited the hospital and met her family members.

“It was a great relief for us as the family repeatedly requested that Sunali be allowed to give birth on Indian soil and not in Bangladesh. This is also a victory, as under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, we fought a legal battle in Calcutta and Delhi. We stand with the family,” said Islam, who is also the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board.