HC seeks report on steps to bring back Bangladeshis
The High Court yesterday directed the government to submit a report within four weeks on what steps it has taken to bring back the Bangladeshi people, who were stranded in boats on the sea and in trafficking camps of Thailand and Malaysia.
In response to a writ petition, the HC bench comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Md Ezarul Haque Akondo also issued a rule asking the government to explain in four weeks why its inaction to rescue those trafficked people should not be declared illegal.
It also asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to try and punish the human traffickers under the Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act 2012.
Secretaries of home, foreign and law ministries, inspector general of police (IGP), the deputy commissioner of Coxs Bazar, the district superintendent of police and officer-in-charge of Coxs Bazar police station have been asked to reply to the rule within four weeks.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Tajul Islam filed the petition on May 26 with the High Court on behalf of the National Forum for Protection of Human Rights, a rights organization, seeking its directive on the government to immediately rescue Bangladeshi people on boats stranded at sea.
It also sought HC directive on the government to bring back the countrymen, who were detained in the trafficking camps in Thailand and Malaysia. The petition also sought directives on the government to try and punish the human traffickers through formation of special tribunals.
Advocate Tajul Islam, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that a few thousand Bangladeshi people including women and children have reportedly been trafficked to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and many are drifting in boats on the sea.
Around 100 people in a boat, most of whom are Bangladeshi nationals, have died of food crisis, he said.
He also claimed that the government has not taken effective steps for helping and rescuing its people, rather the government has said that actions will be taken against these people for trying to migrate illegally. The governments stance might jeopardise the future of these trafficked people, he added.
Deputy Attorney General Amatul Karim Swapna represented the government and said the government has already taken steps for rescuing the trafficked people.
