Fourteen Bangladeshi are said to be in police custody in Kannur district of India’s southern state of Kerala for 45 days even after completing their two year prison sentence.
They were nabbed in India for entering the country without valid travel documents.
‘Times of India’ reports that police was finding it difficult to keep them in prison because of paucity of accommodation.
But they cannot be released because Bangladesh High Commission in far-off Delhi has not send anyone with necessary travel documents for them.
The report quoting police officials said that the authorities have been informed of the problem.
When asked, a senior Bangladesh foreign ministry official told bdnews24.com that they had no information.
“We are contacting our mission in New Delhi after reading the Indian media report,” he said.
In such cases, he said, the nationality of the law-breaker is ascertained through a certain process after being informed by the host government.
Once those concerned are found to be Bangladeshi nationals , steps are taken to bring them back home.
He, however, could not say exactly how many days would be required to verify the nationality.
The report said the 14 Bangladeshis were released from jail in the first week of August.
Six of them are now in the custody of Binanipuram police and one is at Aluva East police station, both located in Ernakulam where charges against them were registered.
Seven others are at the shelter home in Viyyur and Thrissur, as their cases were registered at Vadanappally police station, which has no facility to accommodate them.
“Once we release the prisoners from jail we have no right to keep them in our custody. It is for the police and the government to take the next step,” K V Mukesh, jail welfare officer, Kannur Central Prison was quoted by the report.
“But even though we pass information well before their release, the process gets delayed due to administrative hassles”. In Binanipuram, police personnel have been finding it difficult to keep them due to severe paucity of accommodation.
Also many of the Bangladeshis do not even have proper clothes.
The policemen were helping them with clothes and other necessities, the report said citing a cop.
It was said that the department has no fund to provide for their food, clothes and accommodation and the expense goes from the policemen’s own pocket.
Ernakulam rural district police chief S Sateesh Bino told Times of India that the delay is purely due to technical issues as they have not yet received the travel documents from the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
“This has to be done at the government level, as police have no role in this except for passing on the details to the government,” he said.
Source: Bd news24