Paikar (Bengal): “Please bring my husband back from Bangladesh, I cannot endure this suffering any more. I have to provide for three children alone and I am simply unable to,” says Sunali Khatun.
Sunali is back in the Paikar village of Murarai 2 block of Bengal’s Birbhum district. Months ago, her efforts to come from after having been pushed into Bangladesh while she was pregnant had captured the attention of the whole country and reached the Supreme Court. Today, Sunali’s household is a picture of deep distress.
Sunali today is as much a victim of the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s communal policies as she is of the Trinamool Congress government’s apathy. While her son was named by Trinamool Congress second-in-c0mmand Abhishek Banerjee, the very welfare schemes for which Banerjee’s party is known have evaded Sunali’s family.
Driven by extreme financial hardship, Sunali had migrated to Delhi along with her husband and minor son and daughter in search of work. The family lived in a rented shanty and sustained themselves by collecting discarded waste from the streets, and salvaging usable items to sell. Last June, they were detained by the Delhi Police, labelled Bangladeshi nationals, and subjected to severe mistreatment.
Sunali, her husband Danish Sheikh, their eight-year-old son Sabir, were forcibly pushed into Bangladesh. But not being Bangladeshi citizens, soon afterwards, they and their former neighbour Sweety Bibi with her two minor children Kurban and Iman were held in detention.
Sunali was pregnant at the time.
“Despite everything, I did not give up. I fought relentlessly and protected the child growing in my womb,” she said.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.