32 Bangladeshis stranded due to lockdown sent back home

The Bangladesh Assistant High commissioner Dr Sah Md Tanveer Mansoor met the 26 arrested Bangladeshis at Dhubri Central Jail last week, the ADC said, adding that Mansoor also met the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police.

A total of 32 Bangladeshis, who were stranded in India due to the lockdown, have been sent back to the neighboring country through a checkpoint in Assam's Karimganj district, a senior police officer said on Friday. The foreigners - 14 males and 18 females - were stuck here for a long time and their visas had expired, Karimganj Superintendent of Police Kumar Sanjiv Krishna said.

In the presence of BSF officials, they were sent back to Bangladesh through the Sutarkandi-Sheora checkpoint at the border on Thursday evening, he said. Of the 32, eight were studying at NIT Silchar in Cachar district and others came to India for medical purposes and got stranded due to the lockdown, he said.

The Bangladeshis were screened by a medical team of the district before sending them back, the SP said, adding that the policy directives of two countries were followed Dhubri Additional Deputy Commission Sarfaraj Houque on Friday said 26 Bangladeshi citizens were arrested last month on NH-31 at Bahalpur Police Check post, under Chapar PS of Dhubri district, for violation of visa and lockdown rules. Police detained them and kept all of them in a quarantine centre before registering a case at Chapar Police station under Foreigners Amendment Act 2004.

The arrested Bangladeshis are now lodged at Dhubri District Jail, Houque said. The Bangladesh Assistant High commissioner Dr Sah Md Tanveer Mansoor met the 26 arrested Bangladeshis at Dhubri Central Jail last week, the ADC said, adding that Mansoor also met the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police.