The Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department officials will shift 15-year-old Bangladesh girl Sona (name changed) to West Bengal on Tuesday, said WD&CW Krishna District Project Director K. Krishna Kumari.
A team comprising police and staff of the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) will escort the girl to Kolkata, where she would be handed over to her family through an NGO.
“All arrangements have been made to repatriate the minor girl with her family members. A missionary organisation evinced interest in reuniting Sona with her family. The district administration has cleared the decks to send the girl back to her country,” Ms. Krishna Kumari told The Hindu on Monday.
“As it was an international issue and due to poor response from Bangladesh Embassy, the process was delayed. The WD&CW officials will hand over the girl to her mother by Wednesday,” the PD said.
Centre orders probe
Earlier in the day, reports said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had ordered an inquiry into the illegal stay of Sona, who had been stranded in Andhra Pradesh for two years. The girl was reportedly sexually abused in the shelter homes being run by some NGOs in 2014. Later, the district administration rescued the girl through the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
Though the officials identified the girl’s family at Cox’s Bazar district (the native place of Sona) in Bangladesh, the victim was not repatriated. The girl was rescued from an international flesh trade racket in Vijayawada about two years ago.
The Hindu has been highlighting her plight during the last two years.
The Centre has ordered an inquiry into how the minor came to India, where she was rescued, why a criminal case was not registered on the incident, to which homes she was referred to, who abused the girl at shelter homes, why the district administration has not initiated any action against the guilty in the case and the reasons for delay in sending back the girl to Bangladesh.
CWC orders seized
As part of the inquiry, a team of Intelligence officials on Monday visited the WD&CW Department’s office and gathered details. They also seized the CWC orders referring Sona to different homes and the documents sent to Bangladesh Embassy for repatriation of the girl. Intelligence authorities are planning to meet the police, CWC, district officials and NGOs, Juvenile Welfare Department and the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and grill them on the ill-treatment meted out to her and the inordinate delay in sending her back.
“We received an order from MHA on the international trafficking, abuse and illegal stay of the 15-year-old girl in India. A comprehensive report would be sent to the Government of India soon,” the officials told The Hindu .
