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A pregnant woman in Bangladesh who had considered selling her unborn child because of debt and her husband's medical bills has received Tk 1 lakh from the Prime Minister's Office, along with a promise that the delivery will be paid for and that she will be helped to find work.

The woman, identified in media reports only by her first name, Akhi, is expecting her third child. Her husband has been ill for a long time and had been the family's only earner, according to reports published by Bangla Tribune and Channel i Online on Wednesday.

Her case became public after a news report described how the family's income had collapsed and how mounting costs had left her considering a sale of the child she is carrying. The report caught the attention of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who asked his additional press secretary, Atiqur Rahman Ruman, to find the family, Bangla Tribune reported.

According to that account, the family was traced and contacted within about an hour. Akhi and her relatives were then called to the Prime Minister's Office, where they were handed a cheque for Tk 1 lakh. The prime minister also promised to bear all costs connected with the birth and to arrange employment, both outlets reported.

The two reports describe a household that had been struggling on several fronts at once. Akhi's husband had been ill for a long period, leaving the family without its main source of income. Money was needed for his treatment, for everyday household costs and for repayments on loans the family had already taken. Together, those pressures left the family with what Bangla Tribune described as a heavy burden of debt.

It was in that situation, according to the reports, that Akhi began to consider selling the child she was carrying. Channel i Online reported that the assistance had raised fresh hope that the family could begin to recover from the crisis.

Neither report quoted Akhi or her husband directly, and neither included a detailed statement from the Prime Minister's Office. The reports did not say what job would be offered, when it would begin, how much the family owes in total, or whether the delivery costs would be paid directly to a hospital. It is also not clear whether the Tk 1 lakh is a one-off payment or the first part of longer-term support.

The reports also did not name the outlet that first published her story or say exactly when it appeared. ScrollBeat is using only her first name and is not publishing her address, her husband's name or other details that could identify the family.

What happens next will depend on whether the promises are carried out. The birth itself is the most immediate concern, followed by the treatment of Akhi's husband and the search for work. A job that arrives after the delivery, and that pays enough to cover both living costs and loan repayments, would matter more to the family's long-term position than a single payment.

The case has also drawn attention to the way medical costs and informal borrowing can push low-income households into a crisis that quickly becomes unmanageable. Families without savings often borrow from neighbours, relatives or local moneylenders to pay for treatment, and the debt can outlast the illness. When the main earner cannot work, the loss of income and the cost of care reinforce each other.

That broader problem is not solved by one cheque. Bangladesh has a patchy system of social protection, and help for families in sudden distress often depends on a local official, a charity or, as in this case, a decision taken at the top of government. Whether the Prime Minister's Office will monitor this family after the initial payment, or use the case to set out a wider response, has not been announced.

For now, the confirmed facts are limited. Akhi is pregnant, her family was in debt, she had considered selling the unborn child, and she received Tk 1 lakh along with promises of delivery costs and employment. The identity of the first report, the size of the debt, the nature of the job and the follow-up remain open questions.

State Bank of India said on Wednesday that an incident involving the loss of certain data had exposed the personal information of 3,897 customers on the dark web, a disclosure that puts India's largest lender at the centre of growing concern over cyber security in the country's financial sector.

In a filing to Indian stock exchanges, the bank said a preliminary review of about 375,000 records found on the dark web had identified 3,897 customer records containing personally identifiable information.

The records included customers' names, gender, registered mobile numbers, dates of birth, email addresses and residential addresses. They also carried branch and Customer Information File identifiers, lead IDs, and metadata linked to loan and lead records and other related files.

SBI said it received alerts on 16 October from its threat intelligence service provider, the Defence Cyber Agency and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-In, about the suspected exposure. The bank said it activated its cyber incident response and containment protocols and appointed an independent cybersecurity agency approved by CERT-In to carry out a full assessment.

The lender said the incident had no material impact on its core business operations, financial performance or business continuity, and that its core functions were operating normally. It said a detailed assessment was under way and that remedial and preventive measures were being implemented as required.

The filing leaves several important questions open. SBI said the investigation must establish the authenticity and completeness of the exposed data, identify its possible source, and determine how far the exposure went and what risk it poses to customers and to the bank. It did not say whether the affected customers had been contacted, and it did not name any person or group behind the leak.

The bank also did not say whether copies of identity documents, such as passports or national identification papers, were among the records. Until those points are answered, the full significance of the incident remains uncertain.

The difference between the two figures in the filing matters. SBI reviewed about 375,000 records on the dark web but identified 3,897 containing personal information, which suggests that much of the material circulating may be duplicated, unrelated or not genuine. The bank itself says the authenticity of the data is still being verified, so the final number of affected customers could change.

SBI is India's largest commercial bank and is majority-owned by the government. It has a very large retail customer base and operations in several countries, which means a data exposure at the lender can reach well beyond India's borders.

The disclosure comes as India's banking regulator has been pressing lenders to strengthen their cyber defences in recent years, amid a rise in threats targeting financial institutions. Banks hold some of the most sensitive personal information collected in any industry, including identity records, income details and loan histories.

For customers, the immediate risk is not that someone can withdraw money with a name and address alone. The greater danger is targeted fraud: a caller who already knows a person's date of birth, home address and loan details can sound like a genuine bank officer and use that familiarity to ask for a one-time password, PIN or card number. Customers should treat unexpected calls about accounts, loans or identity checks with suspicion and contact their bank through numbers they have verified independently.

The case also matters to families in Bangladesh who hold accounts, study or work in India, or send and receive money across the border. Personal data leaked in one country can be used in another, and the tactics of impersonation fraud do not stop at frontiers.

What happens next will depend on the investigation. SBI has promised to publish the outcome of its assessment only in general terms so far, and it is not yet known whether regulators will require direct notification of affected customers, whether the remaining records on the dark web will be confirmed as genuine, or whether the source of the leak will be traced to the bank's own systems, a vendor or another party. For now, the confirmed facts are narrow: 3,897 records were identified, they contained personal and loan-related information, and an outside agency is examining how they got out.