After 5yrs girl gets home from India

Twelve-year-old Afroza Khatun finally returned to her homeland yesterday, around five years after she had travelled to India with her mother and elder brother illegally.

India’s Border Security Force (BSF) Additional Director General Bangshi Dhar Sharma handed over the girl to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Director General Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed at the BGB headquarters in the capital around 10:30 am.

Her father and maternal grandmother from Natore were present on the occasion.

Monowara Begum with her little daughter Afroza and son Munna Parvez crossed over the border into India in January 2009 in search of a livelihood, says a BGB press release.

But a few days later, they headed back for Bangladesh as Monowara fell ill. In January the same year, they tried to cross the border near Siliguri to come to Bangladesh but were detained by police for intrusion into India and later imprisoned.

“Heavy rains caught us unaware, and we sought shelter in a place. My mother was putting me to sleep when a law enforcer approached and started asking us questions. We got arrested afterwards,” Afroza said at a press briefing after the handover.

Afroza’s father Md Akram Hossain said the girl’s mother had gone to India for healthcare.

But BGB said Afroza’s mother had crossed the border in search of a livelihood because her husband had abandoned her.

According to a BGB press release, Afroza, originally from Natore, had been trafficked to India around five years ago.

After their detention along the Siliguri border, Monowara and little Afroza were sent to a jail in Balurghat and Munna to a children’s home.

Afroza and her mother were later transferred to a jail in Baharampur, Murshidabad, West Bengal. It was in the Baharampur jail that Afroza’s mother died on October 13, 2009.

The girl stayed in Holy Child Home at Ranighat in Nadia under the supervision of BD Sharma until her return home yesterday. Her brother was sent back to Bangladesh on August 24, 2011.

The BGB chief said Afroza would be admitted to a school in Rajshahi and stay in the hostel. She can communicate with her father and grandmother in Natore, he said.

Afroza has been given Tk 1.5 lakh as compensation from the BSF, claimed Sharma.