Judge inquires about prisoners from Bangladesh

The Calcutta High Court yesterday directed the West Bengal government to inform the court in two weeks about the steps being taken by it to repatriate around 500 Bangladeshi prisoners who have served their sentence but are still languishing in different jails in the state.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice A K Roy, taking note of a letter-petition by NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, turned it into public interest litigation and directed the state Home Secretary to file an affidavit giving details of the number, status and steps to repatriate the Bangladeshi prisoners.
Home Secretary G D Gautama, who was present in the court on a direction by the court, sought two weeks to find out the details.
The petition claimed the prisoners, most of whom had been sentenced to jail for overstaying in India or illegally entering the country, were languishing for months and some for years in different jails due to lack of initiative to send them back to their country.
The petition, moved by counsel Madhurima Dhanuka, claimed 427 males and 53 females are languishing in jails beyond their term.
The matter would be taken up for hearing again on July 29, the bench directed.