5-yr-old Indian child in Bangladesh jail for 1 year now

Even the child's grandparents have been jailed and their release order is being ignored.

A five-year-old Indian boy has been languishing in a Bangladesh jail for the last 10 months,along with his grandparents,after having completed their jail term of two months. They were arrested in April last year by Bangladeshi authorities while illegally entering that country.

The incident happened on April 15 last year,when Hachimuddin Sheikh,his wife Mafroza Khatun,and grandchild Ariful Sheikh were travelling from their Tarakpur village in Murshidabad district of West Bengal to their relatives place across the India-Bangladesh border,according to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). They were fined 500 Taka and sent to jail for two months the term ended in June last year.

After this instance of a child being in custody was brought to the attention of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka in March this year by the Bangladesh Legal Aid services and Trust and again on April 10 by the CHRI,Indian officials pressed on the Bangladesh Home Ministry,following which a release order was issued on April 15 this year. But,according to CHRIs Sana Das,who has been working on the prison reforms programme,The repatriation and release orders have got caught in bureaucratic red tape between the Bangladesh Border Guards (BBG) at Darshana,Bangladesh,to whom the boy and his grandparents will be handed over for repatriation,and the BSF at Gede checkpost on the Indian side in Nadia district where the transfer will take place.

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When asked,MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said,We are pursuing the matter with the Bangladesh authorities.

Sources said Indian officials were in touch with the Kustia jail authorities. They have been informed that the BGB and BSF have met on this issue. It is expected that the exchange will take place through Darsana checkpost soon, a source said.

Das said the childs mother,Kajal Rekha,has been petitioning the authorities for several months and the inquiry conducted by the West Bengal authorities had confirmed their citizenship long time ago. The identity documents were made available to the Bangladesh authorities first,and then sent to the Indian High Commission.