By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: Jahura Begum, a Myanmar citizen whose husband Muhammad Yakub and seven sons are living in a refugee shelter of United Nations in Jammu & Kashmir since 2009, will now be able to see her husband as her plea of the same has been accepted by the Calcutta High Court on December 12.
She will be transferred from Dumdum Central Jail to Tihar Jail in New Delhi. Although she has served her sentence, but due to but due to delay in the issuing of her release order by the Home department she is still languishing in jail.
It was in early 2009, that Jahura Begum, along with her seven children, had entered India via Bangladesh to see her husband Muhammad Yakub. In fact, Md. Yakub had applied to United Nation High Commission for Refugees in New Delhi in 2009 for shelter. The UNHCR later accepted his appeal and arranged for his refuge in Jammu Kashmir UN refugee camp the same year.
On the other hand, his wife had entered Kolkata through Benapole border, but since she had no visa and passport, consequently she got arrested at Bidhan Nagar Police station and sent to jail custody on April 2, 2009.
On May 12, 2010 Barasaat Fast Track Court held her guilty for entering illegally in India and while she was awarded imprisonment, her children were sent to a Juvenile Home. When Md Yakub received the information of his wife’s imprisonment he visited her in 2010 with the help extended by the UNHCR office in New Delhi. In 2011 UN finally arranged the seven children to live with Md Yakub in Jammu-Kashmir.
On December 12, Jahura Begum’s lawyer Debashis Banerjee appeal to Calcutta High Court that to facilitate the transfer of Jahura Begum from Kolkata to New Delhi so that her husband and children could meet her easily. He also argued that Jahura Begum had already served her sentence and is waiting to be taken to the Jammu and Kashmir relief camp where she can re-unite with her husband and children.
Sanjoy Bardhan, central government lawyer, also said, “Central Government is sympathetic to Jahura and she may be sent to Tihar jail.” After hearing both Debashis and Sanjoy, Justice Sajib Banerjee has ordered the Government of West Bengal to arrange for her to be sent to Tihar jail with immediate effect.