State arranges for medical camp at safe house for 40 women, children

KOLKATA: Fifty-nine Bangladeshi citizens waiting to be returned to their country — and staying in two Howrah safe houses under the watch of Indian security agencies — face an uncertain future after a central agency input has informed the Bengal government that the current “situation along the border is not conducive” for their pushback.The Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office in Bengaluru issued deportation orders against the 59 Bangladeshis after they were detained by cops in the Karnataka capital last month; almost all the detainees used to work as daily wage-earners or house maids and were found to be staying illegally. The deportation order has to be executed by the Border Security Force.The Bengal government was forced to step in and arrange for accommodation for the detainees after they reached Howrah station, escorted by a posse of Bengaluru cops, on November 23.The state Intelligence Branch then engaged with the BSF but was told that the situation was not “conducive for their pushback”.“The situation is not conducive for such measures,” a senior central government agency official told TOI on Wednesday. “We are keeping a close watch on the situation. We have no specific timeline for deportation at this moment. We do not want to create a situation that may put the detainees’ lives at risk during the deportation process. There are women and children involved,” he added. “There have been efforts in the Bangladesh media to link the pusback of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants with the ongoing controversy over the National Register of Citizens,” another official explained.“Deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants has been going on for years, with Border Guards Bangladesh troopers looking the other way when Bangladeshi citizens are sent back. But there is an effort now to make this an international issue, with pushed-back Bangladeshis being called intruders,” an official said.A Bangladesh deputy high commission officer said there had been “no formal communication in this regard from the government of India”.Bengal government officers say all FRRO deportation orders are usually handed over to the BSF, which does the pushback. This usually involves handing over the detainees to the BGB at a predesignated place on the border. The Bengal government’s role ends with arranging for transportation to these places and providing peripheral security. “It is not clear when the BSF will provide us the time and place for pushback. The state IB is pursuing this almost daily,” a senior officer said.The detainees are being kept at two places, one in Howrah’s Nischinda and another at an unspecified place in Lichutala (also in Howrah); both are guarded by Bengaluru cops with state police providing peripheral security.An official said there now remained two options, asking the Bengaluru cops to return along with their detainees or arranging for a prolonged stay for the latter till the issue was resolved. The Bengal government seems to be veering to the latter option. “This is also a humanitarian issue,” an officer said.The state government has arranged for a medical camp at the Nischinda safe house that has around 40 women and children. A Nischinda police station officer said food was being arranged for the detainees.Human rights organisation Association for Protection of Democratic Rights claims it has flagged off the issue with the Bangladesh deputy high commission. “Our only concern is everything should be done legally,” APDR general secretary Ranjit Sur said. “The legal recourse is prosecution and trial under Section 14 of The Foreigners’ Act, 1946. This is rarely done,” he said.