Rohingya women, children in jail despite being granted bail

The children and women among the 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were stranded on the India-Bangladesh border for four days, were granted bail by a Tripura court, but had to go to jail as no one appeared to submit the bail bonds for them.

West Tripura District and Sessions Judge S L Tripura granted bail to the seven women and 17 children on Tuesday and sent the remaining seven male Rohingyas to judicial custody for 14 days, their counsel Prasenjit Debnath said.

The 31 Rohingyas, who had apparently come from Jammu and Kashmir, were stuck in a no-man's land beyond the barbed wire fence along the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura since January 18.

The Border Security Force (BSF), after consulting with the Home Ministry, handed them over to the Amtoli police station in West Tripura district on Tuesday. They were later produced before the court.

Debnath, who appeared in court on behalf of the Rohingyas, sought their bail on the ground that they could not be treated as illegal immigrants because India was a signatory to the resolutions of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

He also pleaded before the court that there would be no one to look after the innocent children in the absence of their mothers.

The court granted bail to the women and children, but as no one appeared to furnish the bail bonds, they were sent to the Bishalgarh Central Jail, Pranab Sengupta, officer-in-charge, Amtoli police station, said.

The jailor of the Bishalgarh Central Jail, Banikanta Debbarma, said, "Like the other inmates, the Rohingyas are also given three meals a day, according to the diet prescribed by the government. Their diet includes pulses, rice, milk, biscuits."