India hands over Bangladeshi fisherman’s body 17 days after recovery

Indian authorities handed over the body of a Bangladeshi fisherman this afternoon, 17 days after his body was recovered from the Indian side of the Punorbhaba River in West Bengal’s Dakshin Dinajpur district.

The deceased was Ismail Haque, 60, a resident of Kamdebpur village in Dinajpur’s Biral upazila.

Abu Taleb, acting officer-in-charge of Hili Immigration Check Post, said Nishit Laha, officer-in-charge of Hili (India) Immigration Police, handed over the body to him through Hili Land Port in Dinajpur’s Hakimpur upazila around 1:50pm.

Members of the victim’s family, along with personnel from the border forces of both Bangladesh and India, were present during the handover, said the police official.

After completing formalities, Bangladeshi immigration police handed the body over to the victim’s family, Abu Taleb added.

Speaking to The Daily Star, the deceased's son Haidar Ali said Ismail went missing on the afternoon of April 30 while fishing near the Lalmatia sluice gate adjacent to their home.

He suspected that his father had drowned and the body was swept away by the river current into India after the sluice gate was opened.

Later, on May 3, an Indian television channel reported that the body of an unidentified person had been recovered from Jadabbati village in Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal.

The report came to the attention of Enamul Haque, an Indian relative of Ismail, after it was shared on social media by a local resident.

Enamul later identified the body at Gangarampur Police Station in West Bengal.

As the body was recovered around 18 kilometres inside Indian territory, the matter fell outside the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) regarding direct handover procedures.

On May 5, Dinajpur district administration informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the recovery of the body.