Bangla boys get push-back nod - Minors will be sent back to homeland in a week: DM

From The Telegraph

OUR CORRESPONDENT

The boys being taken to the office of the juvenile justice board in Raiganj on July 26 Raiganj, Aug. 8: The state juvenile justice board today said the three minor Bangladeshi boys who had strayed into Indian territory should be allowed to return to their homeland. The “recommendation” comes nearly two weeks afterThe Telegraph reported on July 27 the board’s rejection of the BSF plea for the boys’ push-back. The board had then claimed that it had no jurisdiction to decide on the matter. The deputy inspector-general of the BSF in Raiganj, Jashwant Singh, said he was relieved to know about the juvenile board’s recommendation. “As soon as police inform us, we will contact our counterparts in Bangladesh and ensure the safe passage for the boys,” Singh said. All three boys are from Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh and had been arrested by the BSF from Sonagaon border on July 23. Pleas of the BSF and the North Dinajpur district administration to the juvenile justice board for an order to send the boys home had prompted it to conduct a hearing yesterday. At the end of the hearing, the board asked the district administration to “initiate proper action” so that the boys could be sent to their “motherland as soon as possible”. One of the board members, Narayan Majumdar, said the boys were first produced before them on July 26. “On that day, the BSF had submitted a plea for their release. However, we were not clear about their intentions of entering Indian territory and police, too, had not submitted any investigation report. So we sent the boys to the government home here for safe custody,” he said. At another hearing on August 5, a lawyer was assigned by the district legal aid cell to appear for the minors. “The boys pleaded guilty to infiltration but claimed that they had done so unintentionally, and their lawyer pleaded their case. On August 7, we held a special board meeting and decided that the boys should be sent back home,” Majumdar said. When reminded that the board had said on July 26 that it did not have any jurisdiction to decide on push-back pleas, Majumdar said: “We have recommended a push-back and ordered that the boys be released from the jurisdiction of the board. Now it is up to the district administration.” The district magistrate of North Dinajpur will sign the final release order. Sunil Dandapat, the district magistrate, said: “I have communicated the decision of the board to the police to begin the process of their hand over to the proper authorities in Bangladesh. I am hopeful they will be able to return home by this week.” One of the three boys, staying at the government home, Surjodaya, said he had come to know about their release while having lunch today. “We are happy that we shall be able to see our parents after such a long time,” he said. North Dinajpur superintendent of police Milon Das said the Raiganj police station had already been instructed to contact the BSF.