Residents in Bethnal Green, east London, where Shamima Begum lived before going to Syria to join Islamic State, have expressed regret at the home secretary’s order to revoke her citizenship.

Abdur Rahman, a 55-year-old cab driver, who has lived in the area for 25 years, said: “The fact she was born here is one thing, but everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves. Let her come back and prove herself. I think it will be hard and take a long time for people to accept her here. But after a few months or even a few years they will.”

On Tuesday, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, wrote to the family of Begum informing them he had made an order to strip her of her British citizenship. The Home Office has suggested she could claim citizenship in Bangladesh because her parents were born there.

Thomas Shuttleworth, 72, who has been a resident in the area for 30 years, believed Javid’s decision was wrong because Begum was “young and English”. He added that, should she win an appeal against the ruling, there should be little concern regarding her reintegration to east London. “People just don’t care that much, they’re not that interested in other people’s lives here,” he said.

Despite the general attitude towards Begum being sympathetic, questions were raised about the events that had led to her fleeing the UK in 2015.

“She was 15, yeah, but she wasn’t 10 or 11,” said Rahman. “I think she went to Syria willingly, but there were people behind her, pushing her to go. How does a 15-year-old get the idea and then get to Syria on their own?”

A stallholder at Bethnal Green Road market, who did not wish to be identified, said: “We should find out exactly why she went to Syria before we make a decision to stop her from coming back.”

Of the 15 people who spoke to the Guardian, the majority felt that Begum should be allowed to retain her citizenship. However, a handful agreed with Javid’s move.

Sue Wilmot, 65, who works as an administrative assistant in a Bethnal Green primary school, said that many of her colleagues and friends who were British Asian felt that Begum’s apparent lack of remorse meant the government was acting on behalf of the public. “I don’t think she should be allowed back, because of how much it would cost,” said Wilmot. “She’d have to be given a new identity and all of that, and who knows if in a few years she wouldn’t come out and do something else.”

Although she believed Begum, who was 15 when she left the UK, was culpable for her actions Wilmot sympathised with the teenager’s newborn son. “He didn’t choose to be born into that.”

Reba Begum, 33, also had faith in the state’s treatment of Begum. “I don’t think she should be allowed to come back because the home secretary has already said no. I don’t know why she and the other two girls went to Syria.”

Some also noted the deeper implications that press coverage of Begum could have for people in the community. “I’m Bengali and I feel like this affects me personally,” said Rahman. “Because she’s Bengali it gives us a bad reputation.”