3 Bangladeshis return from Indian jail

Three Bangladeshi teenagers have returned home through the Benapole port border on Thursday, after serving one-year imprisonment at a juvenile correction centre in India.

The Indian authorities returned them following repeated requests by the Bangladesh home ministry.

Indian police handed over Lina Khatun 18, and two others to Benapole immigration police on Thursday night, said Abul Bashar, officer in-charge of Benapole check post immigration police.

“Eighteen-year-old Lina Khatun is from Narail, while the other girl, aged 17, is from Jessore,” the OC said.

The boy, also aged 17, is from Sirajganj, he added.

They were arrested in Gujarat one and half years ago for entering the country illegally, the OC said, quoting the trio.

Following the arrest, they were produced before a court and sent to a juvenile correction centre for a year, he added.

After completing their imprisonment, the trio were kept in a shelter home until they were sent back to Bangladesh.

A gang of human traffickers smuggled the trio to India through Jessore border, promising lucrative jobs for them, the police official said.