An underage Indian girl allegedly trafficked to Bangladesh and rescued by police there was repatriated on Sunday following an intervention of Calcutta High Court, which directed the Centre to bring her back and produce her before the court on September 12.
On August 22, Justice Sampa Sarkar had directed the Indian high commission in Dhaka to coordinate with the home ministry of Bangladesh and other authorities concerned in the process of repatriation, in the wake of reported delays.
On Sunday, a team of the Bangladesh government entered India and handed the girl to the Indian authorities at Gede in Nadia, in the presence of police, BSF and officials of the Union ministry of external affairs.
The girl was later taken to a hospital for medical test and was handed to her parents after recording her statement before a magistrate.
“Bringing the girl home has been made possible because of a sincere and very proactive initiative from Justice Sampa Sarkar...,” said advocate Susmita Saha Dutta, who represented the girl’s father pro bono.
Police sources said the student of Class XI had become friends with a Bangladeshi youth last year through a virtual gaming platform.
The youth had on September 12 last year, with the help of touts, reportedly managed to get the girl to elope with him to Kushtia in Bangladesh.
The father filed a police complaint and named suspects the next day, but police reportedly “took little initiative”. A few days later, the father got a call from her, claiming she was trafficked to Bangladesh.
The father went to the police for help again, but “in vain”.
The police claimed they had been in touch with the higher authorities but a procedural delay prompted the girl’s father to approach the high court.
The father, with the help of social activist Ranjan Banerjee, filed a petition before the high court. Following an initiative from the Indian high commission, government agencies in Bangladesh joined the search and the girl was eventually rescued last month.
“We were told she was being kept at a home in Kushtia. Apart from the Bangladeshi government, a social organisation there extended support to get the girl back home,” said Banerjee.
In a similar incident in February, a girl trafficked to Bangladesh was repatriated following Calcutta High Court’s intervention.
Found dead
A 32-year-old man, Santu Ghosh, was found hanging from the ceiling in his room on Raja Rammohan Roy Road in Behala on Sunday afternoon. Ghosh was taken to hospital where he was declared dead.