Asma Bibi with her newborn after being discharged from the Dinhata hospital on Wednesday. (Main Uddin Chisti)

Cooch Behar, March 31: Over a thousand Bangladeshi enclave dwellers marched to the Dinhata subdivisional hospital today and took home back with them Asma Bibi and her newborn son after she was given a discharge certificate.

On Monday evening, the 25-year-old woman delivered the baby after she took admission to the hospital by identifying herself as a resident of the Bangladeshi enclave in Mashaldanga, about 15km from Dinhata.

Asma’s declaration that she was a Bangladeshi and the fact that she was an illegal entrant had caught the district authorities off guard. Officials in the hospital and the subdivisional administration had said yesterday that she was admitted on humanitarian grounds.

“Finally, truth has won. This is the first time that a woman from a Bangladeshi enclave delivered a child in an Indian government hospital by giving her true identity. The hospital has also given her a discharge certificate. Today is a memorable day for us,” said Abdur Rehman, a resident of the Bangladeshi Karala enclave.

The women among the enclave dwellers seemed to be the happiest of the lot. “Many newborns die when their mothers deliver with the help of midwives as we, persona non grata in India, cannot go to a hospital. Many among us who dare to get admitted to hospitals give their false identities for fear of being arrested. From now on, we will not have to take recourse to lying. This is matter of great satisfaction for us,” said Mina Bibi, a resident of Mashaldanga enclave.

The assistant secretary of the Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee, Diptiman Sengupta, said: “The health department and police have shown their humane faces. It is important that they were given a discharge certificate. We will go to the municipality a few days later and collect the birth certificate. If we are not given the document, we will launch a movement.”

The rejoicing by enclave-dwellers began since 11am when people from about 10 Bangaldeshi enclaves assembled in front of the committee’s office in Dinhata with the Indian Tricolour and the committee’s flag. As soon as the hospital authorities handed over the discharge certificate, sweets were distributed. The mother, child and Shahjahan Sheikh, the proud father, were put into a hired vehicle and the procession toured the town with them. The rallyists, however, did not shout slogans as Higher Secondary exams were on today.

Hospital superintendent Nikhil Chandra Das said: “Both the mother and the child are well and we have discharged them.” The subdivisional officer of Dinhata, Chiranjib Ghosh, said: “This case was one of being humane and we did the needful.”

Hundreds of people gathered at Mashaldanga to catch a glimpse of Asma and her son.