Kolkata: Nine months after giving birth at a state-run hospital, Sunali Khatun’s son Apon still has no birth certificate. Without it, he has no proof of identity, age, nationality, or place of birth. He is, as his mother puts it, “invisible to the govt.”Sunali, the Birbhum woman who was deported to Bangladesh in June 2025 while pregnant, was brought back by the Centre on “humanitarian grounds” on Dec 6.She gave birth to Apon at Rampurhat Medical College on Jan 5. Yet the hospital has refused to process the birth certificate, citing a missing “Sheikh” beside her husband Danish’s name in his Aadhaar card printout, Sunali said.The problem is compounded by the fact that Delhi Police, who had rounded up Sunali, Danish, their minor son, and three others in June 2025 and deported them, seized their original documents — Aadhaar, PAN card, and ration card — and never returned them, she added.“I have my documents. But I was told a father’s documents are mandatory for the child’s birth certificate. I am clueless on how to secure the official document for my son,” Sunali told TOI.Advocate Raghunath Chakraborty, Sunali’s lawyer in the habeas corpus matter, said Aadhaar is not mandatory for a birth certificate. “Any official document belonging to a parent is sufficient. Children of single mothers have received birth certificates,” he said.Danish was repatriated in July 2026. While Sunali waits for Apon’s documents, the family faces a cascade of exclusions: no rations, no Annapurna Yojana, no Ayushman Bharat card, no old-age pension, no housing under Awas Yojana, no job card. They live under a dilapidated mud roof covered with plastic sheets that leak when it rains.“Work is irregular. Often we skip one meal. The baby falls ill frequently but we don’t have money for medicines. My two other children are also being deprived of nutrition,” Sunali said, adding that Apon’s vaccines are being administered regularly at the local govt health facility.“We fought to return to our motherland but the hardship is still not over. I am very worried for Apon. He still doesn’t have any country,” she said.Activist Chhandak Chatterjee, who is helping Sunali, said: “A child was born nine months ago to a mother who had been pushed back, and he still has no birth certificate. The govt does not appear to have taken meaningful steps to provide even basic rehabilitation. This child has no country.”Neighbour Soyef Ali said the process for rectifying the Aadhaar discrepancy had been initiated at Rampurhat Medical College.(With inputs from Sristi Lakhotia)
