Nepalese citizen who stayed in Silchar's detention camp for two years to be repatriated back to her country

Steps are finally being taken by the Nepal Government to repatriate Nepali citizen Jannat Khatun back to her country incarcerated in the detention camp at Silchar Central Jail. Already the Nepal Government has sent a letter to the Superintendent of Silchar Central Jail for taking back Jannat Khatun, a resident of Nepal’s Lakkhimore located in Sarlahi district. The Nepal Embassy in Kolkata has sent this letter to the Jail authorities in Silchar appealing them to release Jannat Khatun. They have pleaded to the Jail authorities to handover Jannat Khatun to her son Feroze Lahiri and son-in-law who have come to Silchar for taking her.

It maybe mentioned that Jannat Khatun was arrested back in 2018 from Katigorah for trespassing into India without valid documents. She was subsequently sent to Silchar Central Jail on 28th November, 2018. After two years of rigorous imprisonment she was sent to the detention camp of Silchar Central Jail on 27th December, 2020. Since then she is incarcerated in the detention camp without any guilt.

Meanwhile, CRPCC’s State Committee Secretary Sadhan Purkayastha contacted the Nepal authorities and finally efforts are now being made by to repatriate Jannat Khatun back to her own country.

Speaking about the plight of Jannat Khatun, Sadhan Purkayastha said, “I believe she might have been a victim of human trafficking gang and ended up in Katigorah via Bangladesh border. The BSF assumed her to be a Bangladeshi and handed her over to the Police. The Police registered a case against her back in 2018. This mentally imbalanced woman was incarcerated in jail for a period of 2 years based on that case from 2018 to 2020. Later, she was transferred to the detention camp in Silchar Central Jail from 2020 till now without any guilt of her. One day Jailor Sudeep Bandopadhyay spoke to me about her. I talked to her and gathered her address. Based on that I wrote a letter to the Nepal Consulate located in Kolkata on behalf of CRPCC talking about her plight. Receiving the letter, Nepal Consulate’s Secretary Satish Thapa entrused an NGO to find her whereabouts. Members of the NGO confirmed her address and informed the Consulate. After that the process of repatriating her back to Nepal started.”

Talking to reporters Jannat Khatun’s son-in-law said, “She was missing from home since the last 4 years. We couldn’t find her whereabouts in Nepal despite searching vigorously. As she was missing since the last 4 years we weren’t even sure if she was alive or dead. Later, a lady police constable from Assam videocalled us last Friday and showed her. So we reached Silchar and met her. She was sick but is fine now. We want to return as fast as we can. We are poor and don’t have money to go back. The local administration is delaying the repatriation process and we have been here since the last three days.”