‘Don’t think New Year will bring good news, waiting for what SC says’: Sweety Bibi, her 2 kids lose hope in Bangladesh

As the year draws to a close amid changed ties between India and Bangladesh, hope is thinning for 33-year-old Sweety Bibi and her two sons, Qurban, 6, and Imran, 12. Confined to a house in Chapainawabganj district of Bangladesh, Sweety is waiting for a verdict that could decide whether she and her children will ever return to their home in Birbhum, West Bengal.

The next hearing in her case is listed before the Supreme Court of India on January 6. A separate hearing is scheduled at a district court in Chapainawabganj on January 11.

“We cannot leave this house. Twenty-four hours a day, we are confined here. We know what is happening in Bangladesh. The situation is not good,” Sweety told The Indian Express over the phone from Chapainawabganj. “As an Indian, I am scared. My country and Bangladesh are not on good terms now. We are fast losing hope of returning.”

It has been over six months since she, her children, and Danish Sheikh were picked up by Delhi Police and subsequently “pushed back” into Bangladesh after being declared illegal infiltrators.

On December 5, Danish Sheikh’s wife Sunali Bibi — who is pregnant — and her son were brought back to India following a flag meeting between the BSF and the Bangladesh Border Guards, acting on a Supreme Court order. The rest of the group, however, remained behind.

“I don’t think this New Year will bring good news for us,” Sweety said. “The next hearing at the Supreme Court is on January 6. We are waiting for that day. Let us see what the highest court says about us.”

Sweety says her ordeal mirrors that of Sunali Bibi in every way, except in outcome.

“Just like Sunali, we were detained in Delhi where I worked as a garbage collector. Like her, we were labelled Bangladeshi citizens and pushed into this country. Like her, we hid in bushes and tried to return, but BSF stopped us,” she said.

The group, she recalled, spent seven days on the streets of Dhaka before reaching Chapainawabganj, where they were arrested by Bangladeshi police and jailed under the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act.

“Like her, we spent three months in jail before getting bail here. Me and my sons suffered the same way. But she was brought back, and we are confined in this house,” Sweety said.

The house belongs to one Faruk Sheikh, who was entrusted with their custody by a Bangladeshi court after bail was granted on December 1. Since then, Sweety and her children have not been allowed to step out.

Back in Birbhum, the uncertainty has left her family anxious.

“It has been a long time since we last spoke properly. The fate of my sister and her two children is now in the hands of the court,” said Amir Khan, Sweety’s brother.

Mofizul Islam, a Birbhum-based social worker who assisted the families in Bangladesh and has since returned to Bengal, fears the consequences of any adverse order. “I am in touch with her over the phone. What can I say to them? If the Bangladesh court passes a sentence, they may be sent back to jail again,” he said.

All documents proving their Indian citizenship have been placed before the court, according to Samirul Islam, chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP.

“We are hopeful that the highest court of the country will allow them to be brought back home, just like Sunali. All relevant papers showing that they are residents of Bengal have been submitted,” he said.

The chain of events began on June 18, when Sunali Khatun, her husband Danish, their eight-year-old son from Paikar village in Birbhum, and Sweety Bibi with her two sons from Dhitora village, were picked up by Delhi Police, under the jurisdiction of the K N Katju Marg police station.

On June 26, all of them were “pushed back” to Bangladesh after being declared illegal immigrants.

On August 21, Bangladeshi police arrested them in Chapainawabganj and sent them to jail after producing them before a local court. On September 26, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court directed that six members of the two Birbhum families, including Sunali, be brought back to West Bengal within four weeks.

On October 3, the senior judicial magistrate of the Chapainawabganj district court declared both families Indian citizens based on Aadhaar cards and West Bengal residential addresses, ordering their “pushback” to India. Yet, months later, Sweety and her sons remain across the border, waiting.