SHILLONG: As many as 40 Bangladeshi prisoners are languishing in various jails in Meghalaya with some of them overstaying for more than three years even after their convictions.
As pert the official data available with The Shillong Times there are 16 Bangladeshi prisoners in Shillong, 23 in Tura and a lone Bangladeshi prisoner in Jowai. However, there are no Bangladeshi prisoners lodged at Williamnagar.
The plight of the Bangladeshi prisoners are many ranging from relatives not visiting them in the jails and lawyers not coming forward to take up the cause of these poor prisoners free of cost to secure their release.
Unlike arrested Bangladeshi politician Salahudddin Ahmed, who engaged lawyers to pursue his case in the lower court here, these prisoners languishing in various jails in the State cannot afford to engage lawyers to take their cases.
As per the information provided by the jail authorities, only a few relatives visit these foreign prisoners to speak to them and also to know their well beings.
While most of the cases against the Bangladeshi prisoners are related to straying into Indian Territory there are also serious cases of smuggling of fake Indian currency notes, drugs, and weapons from across the border and committing theft and extortions after entering India. Besides sections under NDPS and 489 IPC related to circulation of fake Indian currency, they were also booked under the various sections of Foreigners Act and Passport Act for entering India without valid documents. In Khasi Hills, the route through which they entered India included areas under Mawsynram, Pynursla, Ranikor and Shella.
The routes these Bangladeshi nationals took to enter Garo Hills included the porous areas under Dalu, Tura, Mahendraganj, Baghmara, and Mendipathar.
In Tura jail, out of the 23 prisoners, 18 are under trials and 5 are convicted, while there are as many as five prisoners languishing in jail for more than one year.
The officials admitted that the prisoners overstay in the jail even after the completion of their jail terms.
The reason for the delay in deporting them back to Bangladesh is due to the long procedural formalities, an official with the Tura jail said.
Public Prosecutor I.C. Jha said as far as the detection of Bangladeshis by the BSF is concerned, frequent transfers of BSF officers who effected the arrests and seizures of fake currencies and drugs will result in slow trial as the presence of the BSF personnel is required to speed up the process.
As per 489 IPC (counterfeiting Indian currency) Section B states that the punishment will be 10 years, the punishment under Section C is 20 years, Jha said, while adding that to speed up the trials under fake currency cases, the presence of BSF personnel who seized the items is required.
However, a senior BSF official said that the job of BSF ends with the filing of FIR and handing over those Bangladeshis who are caught, to the police.
He, admitted that on one occasion, the Bangladesh authorities refused to take back two Bangladeshi residents, who completed the jail term in Meghalaya by stating that the matter should be officially informed to the Bangladesh government as there was no prior intimation.
