A couple from West Bengal and their two-year-old son, who were jailed for ten months in Bengaluru on suspicion of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators”, reached their home on Friday after a court granted them bail, reported The Times of India.
The couple, identified as Palash Adhikari and Shukla Adhikari, are residents of Tele village, which is located in East Bardhaman district. The couple along with their son had gone to Bengaluru in June last year in search of better employment opportunities.
The couple had started working at a waste segregation unit in Karnataka’s Sulibele village but were arrested on July 27 on suspicion of being “Bangladeshi infiltrators”, reported The Indian Express. The police had booked the couple under the Foreigners Act, which empowers the government to make provisions for prohibiting, regulating or restricting the entry of foreigners into India.
The Karnataka Police had visited Palash Adhikari’s village in West Bengal to verify his citizenship documents last year, reported The Indian Express. The team had met with Jamalpur Block Development Officer Shubhankar Majumder and checked the documents.
“They [Karnataka Police] wanted to procure residential proof, information regarding their marital status, etc,” Majumder had told the newspaper. “Apparently, they have been arrested under the Foreigners Act. The police have been provided with voter ID cards, ration cards and pan cards. These documents should be enough to prove their citizenship. The Bengaluru police claimed that at the time of their arrest, the couple had failed to provide the documents.”
Palash Adhikari’s relatives also reached Bengaluru and hired lawyers to move their bail plea.
Although the couple were granted bail on April 28, they were released from jail on May 24 since they could not comply with the bail bonds immediately, Palash Adhikari’s relative Sujoy Haldar told The Times of India.
On Thursday, Haldar, along with the couple, boarded the Duronto Express that reached Howrah on Friday.
Also read: India needs a new lens to view those it labels ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’
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