AGARTALA: Seven members of a Hindu family, who recently fled Bangladesh, were sent on a 14-day judicial custody Sunday for entering India illegally, in Tripura's Dhalai district, reports Biswendu Bhattacharjee. Three minors of the family, two boys and a girl, have been sent to a juvenile home in Agartala. The family was detained in Ambassa a day earlier.
Sudhir Sarkar, 70, the family patriarch, now hopes to get Indian citizenship through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. The Act helps grant Indian nationality to undocumented migrants - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians - from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before Dec 31, 2014. "Nobody wants to leave his or her birthplace. But if a situation has arisen where a Hindu family from Bangladesh is forced to seek refuge in India, the Indian administration should deal with it sympathetically," Sarkar said.
He said they were forced to leave behind everything in Kishoreganj district, their home. "Our Muslim neighbours, with whom our families lived peacefully for generations, became our sworn enemies overnight. We had no option but to leave," he added.
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