A five-year-old Indian boy and his grandparents are lodged in a Bangladesh jail for a year since the process for their confirmation as Indian nationals has taken up a lot of time, a media report said.
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The boy, Ariful Haq Seikh, his grandfather Hasim Uddin Seikh, 55, and grandmother Maforza Khatun, 50, are languishing in Kushtia jail for entering Bangladesh without valid travel documents, said a media report.u00a0
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Sentenced to two months' imprisonment, their term ended 10 months back, but they have not been freed.u00a0
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They hail from Murshidabad district in India's West Bengal state.
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They entered Bangladesh April 15 last year to visit their relatives in Daulatpur, according to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
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They were arrested and sent to Kushtia jail. A month later, a court awarded them two months' jail term.
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Then began the process to verify them as Indians.
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The jailor wrote to the Inspector General of Police (Prisons) who forwarded it to the ministry of home, from where the letter was sent to the ministry of foreign affairs.u00a0
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The foreign ministry contacted the Indian authorities and New Delhi responded in positive.u00a0
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The confirmation process took a year.
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On April 15 this year, the home ministry directed the Kushtia jail authorities to take appropriate action.u00a0
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BGB have now got in touch with India's Border Security Force (BSF) at Nadia in West Bengal and a meeting has been scheduled for April 29.
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"We are hopeful that BSF will take the boy and his grandparents back during the meeting," Sultan Ahmed, a BGB official, was quoted as saying.
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