Tell mom I’m waiting for her, says Sunali’s 6-year-old daughter
Times of India | 27 September 2025"When will Maa return home?" she asked, crying inconsolably. "I know my parents are in Bangladesh but why are they not allowing them to come home? I have not seen them and my elder brother for a long time. Send my mother home quickly, tell her I am waiting for her."
The calls followed shortly after Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered the Centre to bring nine-month pregnant Sunali, her husband and son, along with three of another Birbhum family, back from Bangladesh in four weeks.
Suspected of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, the six were picked up in June by Delhi cops in Rohini where the families used to work as ragpickers, and pushed to Bangladesh. Afrina was lucky to escape the police drive since she was in Birbhum's Paikar, holidaying at her grandparents' home.
Afrina, now in Delhi, said: "I cannot attend school as my name was struck off the rolls. I was studying in class 2. I want to go back to school."
Karishma, Sunali's sister who is now taking care of Afrina, said the child was almost in depression without her mother for nearly six months. "She is always crying and it is tough to keep her calm. Afrina is in a trauma," Karishma said.
Karishma and her mother Jyotsna said they were happy with the high court order and hopeful that Sunali and her family would be back soon. But they have doubts whether the Bangladesh govt would release them from jail.
Karishma and Jyotsna, along with Afrina, came to Delhi a fortnight ago. "We went to the school last week. But as Afrina was absent for a long time, the school authority struck off her name. For readmission, they want her parents to be present. We tried to plead with the school authority explaining the events that followed but they are unwilling to take her back," Karishma said.
Sunali's cousin Ruksana, who also works as a ragpicker in Delhi, said it was very difficult for a pregnant woman to be in jail while in an advanced stage.
"Who will take care of Sunali in a foreign country and that too in jail?" she asked.
Bhodu Sk, a 58-year-old rickshaw puller and Sunali's father who filed the habeas corpus case, thanked Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for fighting for his daughter. "We are penniless people and she understood our plight and made all-out efforts to bring back Sunali and others. I have no words to thank her. Trinamool MP Samirul Islam (West Bengal migrant workers' welfare board chairperson) also helped us," he said.
