A man originally from Tripura’s Sepahijala district has recently returned home after spending 37 years in jail in Bangladesh. Shahjahan again entered India via the formalities of the Srimantapur land customs station with the help of BSF personnel.
Born in Rabindrangar, a border village in the Sonamura subdivision, Shahjahan migrated to his wife’s home in Comilla, Bangladesh, in 1988. His visit became a subject of drama and tragedy when police went to his relative’s house to arrest him for coming into the country illegally.
Shahjahan said, ‘I was sent behind the bar when I was in Comilla, at the age of 25 through a trial and was awarded 11 years’ imprisonment, and though I completed it, I could not come out and remained in custody for another 26 years. ’
His story, by chance, reached the media a few months back, which attracted the attention of the Zara Foundation, an organization that assists aliens stuck abroad. Shahjahan’s kidnapper was arrested, and Moushahid Ali, chairman of the Zara Foundation, soon intervened as anticipated and did everything legally possible to rescue him.
Last of all, at the age of 62, Shahjahan came home to a family that he had not seen for half a century, including a son who was seeing him for the first time.
“I have no words to describe my joy – it’s like a rebirth for me; I never thought I would get back to my birthplace in this lifetime – it’s all thanks to the Zara Foundation, and for that, I will be forever thanking them,” stated him.
Jahan also exposed the torture he faced; he disclosed the ill-treatment while he was in police custody in the initial period. and then, after serving 11 years in Comilla Central Jail, he was transferred to other jails under other charges and had a total remaining imprisonment of about more than twenty-seven years.
