Meghalaya Court acquits Bangladesh minister Salahuddin Ahmed

SHILLONG: Former Bangladesh Minister, Salahuddin Ahmed has been acquitted by a local court on Friday. Ahmed had entered India in May 2015 and landed in Shillong without valid travelling documents and was subsequently arrested by the state police.

In its judgment, the court of the first class judicial magistrate DG Kharshiing directed the State government to take necessary measures to immediately repatriate him.

“He (Ahmed) has been found to be innocent by the court and was acquitted honourably,” Ahmed’s counsel, SP Mahanta said. Mahanta also told mediapersons that the Court has also directed the police to take necessary steps for his immediate repatriation.

Speaking to the media a visibly pleased Ahmed, said, “I am eager to go back to Bangladesh. I want to go back to my country. ”

The former Bangladesh minister maintained that he never crossed the international border voluntarily but was in fact forcibly pushed into India.

“I was blindfolded and dumped in this place (Shillong). The court judgment has also proven that I am innocent,” he added.

Expressing his eagerness to go back to his home country, Ahmed said that he wanted to go back to his family and children even as he added that Bangladesh is his country. “...but there are lots of things going on in my country,” the Bangladesh politician said.

Ahmed was the Communications Minister in the BNP government led by Khaleda Zia from 2001 to 2006.

He was booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946 for surfacing in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong (India) without valid documents on May 11, 2015. He was arrested by the Meghalaya police on May 12, 2015. Ahmed was allegedly kidnapped in Bangladesh on March 10, 2015. He was one among the numerous BNP officials to have disappeared during the political turmoil in Bangladesh in 2015.