After 8 years in home, girl to return to Bangladesh
Times of India | 30 January 2025
KOLKATA: Fate, not the law, confined a Bangladeshi girl to a home for the last eight years. Now 16, she is set to go back to her homeland on Thursday.
Caught as an 8-year-old near Kolkata airport in 2017 for illegally entering India with her parents, the child was then sent to a home because she was a minor, and police did not press charges against her. Her parents, implicated under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, served out their term in prison and were sent back to Bangladesh. The child was not implicated, nor convicted as an illegal Bangladeshi, and so continued to stay in the home.
It was only recently that the District Legal Services Authority, South 24 Parganas, tracked her case and brought it to the notice of state govt’s Directorate on Child Rights and Trafficking. This paved the way for her to go back home.
Officials who worked out the legalities for her return said the teenager would be reunited with her family in Bandarban district of Chittagong within a couple of days. She is likely to be handed over to Bangladesh officials at Petrapole-Benapole border on Thursday.
As news of her release reached the teenager, she expressed mixed feelings. She was very excited but had doubts whether it would really happen, because she had prayed to go home for the last eight years, an official said. The class VIII student plans to continue her studies once she is back in Bangladesh.
State officials are hopeful that the girl will have a smooth journey back. “We would like to gift her some clothes and other necessary items. There are restrictions at the border, so we have to follow norms. There was a festive mood among the inmates. There are 24 other girls in the home, among whom four are also from Bangladesh and are awaiting the nod to return,” said an official.