‘Take us home': Birbhum women seek Didi's help in vid appeal from B'desh
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Kolkata: In a video message, members of two Birbhum families pushed to Bangladesh by BSF made an appeal to Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to arrange for their return to India.
TOI had earlier reported that six Birbhum residents, including three minors, were nabbed by Delhi cops on June 18 and sent to Bangladesh on June 26.
Two habeas corpus petitions were filed in Calcutta High Court.
Among the detained were Sweety Bibi and her two minor sons, and Danish Sheikh, his wife Sunali Khatun and their 5-year-old son.
"We are not Bangladeshis. We went to Delhi for work but police labelled us Bangladeshis. We showed Aadhaar cards, but Delhi police did not accept them. We are from Birbhum's Paikar, we have our ancestral home there," Sweety and Sunali said in their appeal.
The two women and the children stood with folded hands as they spoke. "The police took away our mobile phones and money. They tortured us and sent us here. We have nothing to feed our children, no place to stay.
Mamatadidi, please take us back," they said.
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TMC MP and chairman of Bengal migrant workers' welfare board Samirul Islam posted the video on X. Pointing out that PM Narendra Modi had spoken extensively about infiltration during his speech in Durgapur on Friday, Islam said: "Despite being Indian citizens, their only 'crime' was speaking Bengali in BJP-governed Delhi, where they lived for years in search of work. Sunali, eight months pregnant, is now wandering helplessly in Bangladesh — punished for being Bengali in a country where her own govt refuses to protect her.
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The MP urged Modi: "It is your duty to stand by them and safeguard their rights."
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