Assam Teenager Declared Bangladeshi, Released After 6 Years

GUWAHATI: A 15-year-old boy from Assam who was detained in 2015 and considered Bangladeshi has now been released at the age of 21 after spending 5 years in Silchar Jail and Detention centre.

The boy is a resident of Assam's Guwahati city and was reportedly suffering from a certain mental condition.

In 2015 the teenager ran away from his home after an argument with his father during which his father out of anger said him to leave and go to Bangladesh.

Being upset over the regular quarrel with his family, the boy then 15 years old left his home and boarded a train from Guwahati Railway Station.

A railway police officer stopped him at the station at the time of routine checking and questioned him. The boy with mental illness directly told the police officer that he was moving to Bangladesh.

The officer arrested the boy immediately suspecting that he was from Bangladesh and asked him to present documents that can prove his Indian citizenship.

The Judicial Magistrate First Class-II of Karimganj district in January 2016 declared the teen boy a foreigner as he failed to produce documents and was unable to provide any specific details about his family.

Later the concerned authorities made several attempts to deport the young boy to Bangladesh but Dhaka blocked the process being unable to confirm him as a citizen.

The boy's father who works at a shop in Guwahati said that one remark by him asking his son to go to Bangladesh has led him to suffer a lot and destroyed his life.

After one year his son left home, the father received a call from Silchar Central Jail who explained that the boy was declared Bangladeshi and efforts are made to deport him.

The family members later tried to approach the Guwahati High Court seeking justice for their son but they couldn't effort it as one lakh was asked for every hearing.

However, a lawyer named P Agarwal helped them in the process without taking any money. She submitted a separate application against the boy's continued detention.

A special bench of justice led by Nani Tagia and Kotiswar Singh was told by the lawyer that the teenager was convicted for entering the country illegally from Bangladesh and sentenced to one-year imprisonment.

The boy continued to face the punishment of remaining in jail and being an Indian citizen he was considered a foreigner.

The (DLSA) District Legal Service Authority of Kmarup and Cachar districts was asked by the special bench to verify whether the teen boy is the son of the petitioner.

The Guwahati HC said that "under the circumstances, the matter needs proper examination as the petitioner has sought to cancel the whole proceedings."

"The public Prosecutor B Bhuyan also agreed that the reports from both DLSA's suggest that the boy is the son of the petitioner" reads the court order. The court has directed to hand over the custody of the 22-year-old boy to his parents.

On 5th May 2022, the court will hear the main petition challenging the order that declared the 22-year-old boy as a Bangladeshi national and a foreigner.

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