Prisoner Transfer: Bangladeshi man brought back from Tihar jail

The Bangladeshi youth, who was serving a life sentence in Delhi's Tihar jail after being convicted in a murder case, was brought back to the country yesterday.

Badal Farazi, 28, arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital around 4:00pm, Moniruzzaman, additional deputy inspector general (intelligence and special affairs) of the Police Headquarters, told The Daily Star.

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Bangladesh and India signed a bilateral treaty on “Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners” eight years ago.

After processing his documents, police took him to Dhaka Central Jail to let him serve the rest of his sentence there, Moniruzzaman added.

Jahangir Kabir, superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail, said Badal was handed over to the jail authorities around 7:20pm.

Badal, who is from Bagerhat, had been in the high-security Indian jail for the last 10 years.

Indian police had been looking for one Badal Singh accused of killing an old woman at Amar Colony in New Delhi on May 6, 2008.

When Badal Farazi was entering India on a tourist visa on July 13, he was arrested by Border Security Force for similarity of his name with that of the accused in a murder case, according to a report of Bangla daily Prothom Alo on May 17 last year.

According to the report, the home ministry of Bangladesh sent a letter to Indian government for the repatriation of Badal, son of Abdul Khalek and Sarafali Begum.

A lower court in India sentenced Badal to life in prison in August, 2015 on charge of murder. The verdict was upheld by the Delhi High Court in May 2016. He appealed against it, but the appeal was rejected by India's Supreme Court in December. Badal then applied to the Indian authorities for repatriation. 

Officials said Badal's repatriation could facilitate greater cooperation between the two countries in terms of exchange of prisoners.

There are three preconditions for the repatriation: (1) that a convict has more than six months left of his sentence to be served, (2) there is no appeal by the person pending in a court and (3) the conduct of the prisoner has to be exemplary showing signs of reformation.

Badal, who was a student when he went to India in 2008, completed studies and even obtained a degree during his stay in Tihar Jail. He will serve the rest of his sentence in a Bangladesh jail and he will not have the option to appeal against his sentence after repatriation, according to officials.

Badal's father passed away when he was in jail in India.

An NGO in India organised two marches in Delhi in March this year for the repatriation of Badal and mobilised opinion on social media.

Prior to 2004, India did not have the domestic legislation under which foreign prisoners could be transferred to the country of their origin to serve the remaining part of their sentence.

The transfer of such prisoners to their own native countries is aimed at facilitating their social rehabilitation by allowing them to be nearer their families.