After enduring captivity in India as victims of human trafficking and illegal entry, 18 Bangladeshi citizens have returned home under a special state travel permit—including a teenage girl who crossed into India at age 13 and returned with her one-year-old infant in her arms.
Indian authorities officially handed them over to the Benapole Immigration Police on Wednesday (16 September) afternoon via the Benapole land port in Jheshore. Benapole Immigration Police stated that among the 18 returned individuals, 16 are children and teenagers, while the remaining two are adults.
According to news sources, the teenage girl who returned with her infant hails from Khulna. She became pregnant at the age of just 13 due to a romantic relationship and, fearing social stigma, fell into the hands of brokers to cross the border and take shelter in West Bengal, India. After giving birth to a baby boy in India, police arrested her on charges of illegal entry and sent her to prison. After serving nearly a year in prison, she was kept in a shelter home in Kolkata, and later gained the opportunity to return home through diplomatic communications between the two countries.
Highlighting the complex family situations of the returned minors, Benapole Immigration Police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Saiful Islam said, “The parents of many of these returned children are currently detained in various prisons in India. Again, for some, although their parents returned home earlier through travel permits, the children remained stuck in various shelter homes in Kolkata, India. Through coordinated diplomatic communications, it was possible to bring them back home today.”
Following the completion of preliminary legal and official procedures at the land port, they were handed over to the custody of ‘Justice & Care,’ a private human rights organization, for humanitarian assistance and family rehabilitation.
Regarding the rehabilitation of the returned individuals, Justice & Care Deputy Country Manager A. B. M. Muhit Hossain stated, “The returned women and children have been housed in the organization’s own shelter home in Benapole. After providing primary care and completing necessary legal procedures there, they will be handed over to their respective families as quickly as possible.”
