The apex court of the Indian state of West Bengal has ordered a Bangladeshi woman to be repatriated by air as she is languishing in a correctional facility despite her detention period expiring quite earlier.
Kolkata High Court Justice Debangshu Basak passed the order on her request on Thursday. She was booked for staying in the country beyond her visa period, reports the PTI without disclosing her identity.
Justice Debangshu asked the correctional home superintendent to take appropriate measures for the purpose of her deportation forthwith.
The court directed that the superintendent of the correctional home will, if necessary, depute police personnel to accompany the woman to the airport as she claimed that she wanted to return home by air, till such time the petitioner is cleared by security for boarding.
The woman, who worked at a dance bar in Mumbai, came to India with a valid passport and visa, but could not go back in time owing to Covid-19 restrictions, her lawyer Soumyajit Das Mahapatra said.
She was apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) while trying to go back to Bangladesh illegally earlier this year and was handed over to Swarupnagar police station in North 24 Parganas district.
On pleading guilty, a district court sentenced the woman to imprisonment for 66 days and the detention period was completed on June 19.
However, owing to lengthy administrative issues in the procedure of sending her back to her native country, the woman has been languishing in the correctional home despite having completed her sentence causing her to move the high court for redressal, Mahapatra said.
The court noted that a special secretary to the West Bengal government had on July 13 requested the central government for immediate deportation of the petitioner by air.
"Petitioner will purchase the air ticket for her flight and produce the same before the Superintendent of the Correctional Home at which she is presently lodged," Justice Basak directed in the order on Thursday.
He directed the superintendent of police to take expeditious steps for the purpose of ensuring that the petitioner is able to avail of such flight.