By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: Five-year-old Indian kid Ariful Sheikh who has been in Bangladesh prison for one year will walk free on 29th April. Ariful and his grandparents of Murshidabad district in West Bengal were held by Bangladesh border police on 15th April 2011 when they crossed the border to meet their ailing relative on the other side of the border.
According to Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), which has been working with Bangladesh-based NGO Bangladesh Legal Aid And Services Trust on this case, BSF and Ministry of External Affairs have assured the kid and their grandparents will be released at 10 am, 29th April GEDE Check Post in Nadia district of West Bengal.
Five-year-old Ariful Sheikh has been languishing in the Kushtia jail in Bangladesh for the last 12 months with his grandparents. They were arrested on 15 April 2011 for illegally crossing the Piyarpur border to go to Bangladesh under Section 4 of the 1952 Control of Entry Act of Bangladesh. They were sentenced to two months of imprisonment on failing to pay the fine of 500 taka each. Though they should have been freed by June 2011, they continued to be illegally detained 10months beyond the period of their sentence. In spite of a release order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Bangladesh there was no sign of steps towards their repatriation because lack of coordination between Bangladesh Border Guards and Border Security Forces in India.
“The CHRI has been working with Bangladesh-based NGO Bangladesh Legal Aid And Services Trust (Blast) on this case to get the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and Ministry of External Affairs in India to push for much relayed release of five-year old Ariful and his grandparents. The media has also been actively engaged in this case and pressurized the authorities to take action. As a result, the BSF and Ministry of External Affairs have now announced that the boy and his grandparents are scheduled for release at 10 am on 29th April (Sunday) 2012 at the GEDE Check Post of Nadia district of West Bengal in India where the boy’s parents will be waiting to reunite,” said Aditi Datta, Media and Communications Officer, CHRI.
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For more information contact:
Sana Das, Coordinator, Prison Reforms Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative at [email protected] (09535105575)
Mrs Maja Daruwala, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, [email protected], +91 9810199745
Ariful’s mother, Ms. Kajal Rekha Bibi, 08116098481.