Many Bangladeshis in Indian jail despite completing terms

Scores of Bangladeshi prisoners are languishing in the jails of India's West Bengal state despite completing their terms, the Times of India reported yesterday.

The report did not give an exact number but said most of the 320 foreign prisoners in West Bengal prisons, who had already served their sentences, were Bangladeshis.

Of the rest of the 320, two are from Nigeria, two from Myanmar, one from Ukraine, and one from Lesotho, it said.

According to recent data released by the National Crime Records Bureau of India, nearly 47 percent of the foreign prisoners are lodged in West Bengal prisons and most of them are Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims.

Of the 6,000-plus foreigners lodged Indian jails, 2,935 are in West Bengal, according to the NCRB data. Among them, 1,113 are convicts and the rest are under-trial.

"There are several foreign prisoners, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar," said Madhurima Dhanuka, consultant of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an NGO which fights for the release of the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.