Teenage Indian girl's ordeal ends after over 3 months

The 14-year-old girl, Khaleda Akhtar Mukta had to pay a good price of love by languishing in Bangladesh jail for more than three months.

Daughter of a solvent farmer named Zahedul Islam of the bordering village of Hemkumari Baniapara in Koochbihar district, India, Mukta fell in love with a Bangladeshi cowboy Hafizul Islam, son of Abu Bakar of Giriadangi village under Bhogdabari union of Domar upazila in Nilphamari.

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Receiving a false promise from her fiance, she became desperate and crossed the barbed wire border fencing to meet him on August 20. But to her utter frustration she found that the boy cheated her. She became disgusted and began to loiter aimlessly inside the Bangladesh territory. At one stage local people caught her and handed over her to BDR officials of Dangapara camp under Domar upazila. Ultimately, she was handed over to Domar Thana police who lodged a case against her for illegally crossing the international border. Subsequently, a court in Nilphamari sentenced her to seven-day imprisonment for her offence which ended on August 30.

Despite expiry of her jail term the unlucky girl languished in prison for over three months. During the period her relatives in Bangladesh contacted the Home Ministry of Bangladesh government and the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh. They appealed to the authorities concerned time and again to release her and give her at their disposal, but in vain.

However, on December 3 the Home Ministry asked the Inspector General of Prison to take steps to send the girl to her country within 15 days of receipt of the instruction. The order was passed to the Nilphamari district administration who requested the BDR Commander in Rangpur to make arrangement to hold a flag meeting with the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) to discuss on safe passage of the girl to her home.

Accordingly, a fruitful BDR-BSF flag meeting was held and Mukta was pushed back to India by BDR through Chilahati check post.