- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, April 01, 2022: With the consent of Central and Tripura governments, Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala on Friday repatriated five Bangladeshi nationals, who were lost several years back through Akhaura Integrated Check post here in Agartala.
The five Bangladeshi nationals repatriated on Friday are- Santosh Deb of Chittagong, Bijoy Chunu of Narayanganj, Moina Begum of Manikganj, Rogina Begum of Patuakhali and Kulsum Begum of Comilla. They had crossed the international border of India and Bangladesh unintentionally as they were suffering from psychological disorder in 2015 and 2018 last.
The Border Security Force personnel detained them and handed over to the Tripura police. The local court in South Tripura district found these Bangladeshi nationals as psychologically ill during the investigation by the police and referred them for treatment to a modern psychiatric hospital at Narsingarh, about 10 KMs away from the heart of Agartala city.
Speaking to the Northeast Today on Friday morning, Arif Mohammed, Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala said “I want express my happiness as we have succeeded in handing over the lost citizens to Bangladesh to their near and dear ones and their family members. For this, I am grateful to Tripura government and convey my thanks to the concerned authorities for making this possible.”
He also expressed his gratitude to the officials of Akhaura upazila. “These people had been able to see their mothers and family members after a span of eight to nine years. Among these five people, three were found in a state of unresponsive condition and rest two were of 2015. Then they underwent treatment in Modern Psychiatric Hospital.”
“When they succeeded in reaching a state of mind in memorizing their names and location, immediately those information were sent to Bangladesh government for verification. Within a short time, Bangladesh government verified the information and informed us. Accordingly, we informed Tripura government that their information is justified. Then the government here confirmed the matter with central government and thereafter the repatriation process had begun at Agartala-Akhaura Check Post”, he added.
Later, Dr Udayan Majumder, Neuro-Psychiatrist of the Modern Psychiatric Hospital at Narsingarh told reporters, “With the order of South Tripura district’s courts and permission of district magistrate, these five Bangladesh nationals were admitted in Modern Psychiatric hospital. They were handed over by the police to us for their treatment.
“When they visited the hospital, we understood they were mentally unstable and could not understand anything, how they have entered Tripura? We have provided health treatment to them and have recovered quickly. However, they took time to reach the stage to memorizing their names and address”, he added.
“At present, there are nearly 10-12 patients in Psychiatric hospital, who claimed to be Bangladeshi citizens. However, what is the exact figure of Bangladeshi citizens cannot be proved till now. As because, many could recover well enough to memorize their names but recovered concerning to their health”, said Dr Udayan.
During repatriation process, first secretary of BAHC Reza Haque Choudhury was also present at Akhaura ICP.
