In Kolkata for Aadhaar hearing, Sunali asks CM to help bring husband home
Times of India | 6 February 2026
Kolkata: On Thursday afternoon, while chief minister Mamata Banerjee was speaking against the BJP and central forces, accusing them of torturing people for speaking Bengali, she said, "they did not even spare a pregnant woman", while referring to Sunali Khatun.
Around the same time, Sunali, who was pushed into Bangladesh in June 2025 and returned in Dec last year on Supreme Court orders, was barely a kilometre away from the state Assembly, appearing for an Aadhaar deactivation hearing at Telephone Bhavan.
Sunali said that she was served a hearing notice by the UIDAI on Jan 15, which she received on Jan 27. "As I gave birth on Jan 5, it was difficult for me to travel immediately to Kolkata from Paikar in Birbhum, so I pleaded for additional time."
Trinamool MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited Sunali on Jan 6 at Rampurhat Hospital and named her newborn son "Apon".
Hearing that the CM mentioned her, Sunali was eager to meet her on Thursday. "Can I meet her now in the Assembly?" she asked.
The Aadhaar authority stated in the notice: "Your Aadhaar enrolment was carried out without valid supporting documents." To inquire into the genuineness of her records, she was asked to provide proof of identity, address, relationship and date of birth. Sunali said that officials asked for documents like a birth certificate and voter card, which she lacked. However, she provided her Aadhaar and PAN cards, her bank passbook, EPICs of her parents and even the 2002 SIR list featuring her parents' names.
Sunali feels she is being unnecessarily harassed by the authorities. "I even showed them the deed to my family's land, but they refused to accept it. I also submitted copies of an affidavit from the sub-divisional executive magistrate. They said they would respond within a fortnight."
After the hearing, Sunali, along with her son Apon, her daughter Afrin and local social worker Soyef, went to the chamber of her lawyer, Raghunath Chakraborty, to discuss her pending legal matter, which is likely to be heard by SC on Feb 18.