Murshidabad:
In a small hut in a village in Murshidabad, Kajol Rekha Bibi stares at the only photo she has of her five-year-old-son, Ariful Sheikh. Kajol Rekha has not seen Ariful in a whole year. He accompanied her parents when they crossed the border into Bangladesh to visit some relatives. They didn't have any travel documents. So they were picked up by the Bangladesh Border Guards. When the case came up in court at Kushtia, they were asked to pay a fine of 500 Takas or 320 rupees or face two months in jail. They didn't have the money, so they were sent to prison. Because Ariful had nowhere to go, he was jailed too with the grandmother Mafroza Begum.
In June, they completed their sentence. But it took 10 months to confirm their identities as Indian nationals. Then last week, the Bangladesh government said the family could go home. But there seems to be a communication gap between the Indian Border Security Force and their counterparts across the border.
"Each of them are claiming they haven't got intimation from their counterparts," says Madhurima Dhanuka, a lawyer with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, which has been fighting for the boy's cause.
India's Border Security Force says they are aware of Ariful's case and the release order. They have written twice to the Bangladeshi officials about the case and are waiting for a response.
"5-yr-old Indian Ariful Sheikh who is in Kustia jail in Bangladesh expected to be handed over on 29 April to BSF through Darsana checkpost," official spokesperson in Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.