As many as 36 Bangladeshi teenagers have returned home through the Benapole land port after serving different jail terms in India.
The Petrapole immigration police of India handed them over to the Benapole immigration police through the Benapole checkpost, after giving them travel permits, around 6pm on Monday.
The returnees were accompanied by the Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner to India Shamim Yasmin.
The teenagers have been taken to the Jessore Shelter Home and soon will be handed over to their respective families under the supervision of three local NGOs.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Ahsan Habib, officer-in-charge (OC) of Benapole immigration police, said that the teenagers –10 boys and 28 girls, aged between 12 to 18 years – were lured to different states of the neighboring country without any passports or visas with promises of good jobs in the last four years.
Indian police arrested them for not having any valid documents and produced them before a court, which sentenced them to jail, the OC added.
Later, several Indian NGOs – Rescue Foundation, Liluah and Sukanya Foundation – ensured the release of the teenagers and took them to their shelter homes, said the OC.