A 12-year-old Bangladeshi girl, who was detained in India along with her mother and brother for illegally entering the country, returned home on Saturday after nearly four years with the assistance of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and India’s Border Security Force (BSF).
A BSF team, led by Special Director General Shri BD Sharma, handed over Afroza Khatun, of Dashpara village in Natore district, to BGB Director General Aziz Ahmed on Saturday morning at the BGB headquarters in the capital.
Afroza’s mother, Monoara Begum, illegally entered India in 2009 with her daughter and son, Munna Parvez, to look for a job after the children’s father, Md Akram Hossain, a van driver, abandoned the family to remarry.
Monoara and her two children initially took shelter at a relative’s house in New Delhi.
But after a few days, Monoara became ill. After getting treatment at a Delhi hospital, the family decided to return home.
They went to Shiliguri in West Bengal state to cross over to Bangladesh, but Indian police arrested them at the Balurghat border for trespassing and sent them to the local jail.
An Indian court then sentenced Monoara to two years in jail with hard labour and fined her 10,000 rupees (about Tk12,000 at current exchange rate).
Afroza, who was eight at the time, was kept with her mother in Balurghat jail, while her brother, who was 14, was sent to a detention home.
Mother and daughter were later transferred to Murshidabad jail. Monoara fell sick again, and was admitted to Baharampur Central Hospital, where she died on October 13, 2009.
On learning about the children’s plight, BGB officials held talks with their Indian counterparts to release and repatriate them.
After Monoara’s death, BD Sharma, who was then BSF’s additional director general in West Bengal, got Afroza admitted to a children’s home in Diabari. He also requested the Indian human rights commission to aid her and her brother.
The commission granted 150,000 rupees (about Tk180,000) as compensation to the children. Munna was sent home in August 2011. However, Afroza remained in India _ until she was finally repatriated on Saturday.
