The Karnataka police on Friday deported a group of 59 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as part of the state's deportation exercise, an official said. The immigrants were to Kolkata by train.
“They (illegal migrants) have already boarded the train towards Howrah, along with 29 Karnataka policemen. They will be handed over to the West Bengal police and Border Security Force (BSF),” Deputy Commissioner of Police Bengaluru (East) SD Sharanappa said.
The team of Karnataka police officials, which also includes female police officers, is escorting 18 men, 23 women and 18 children who were detained in three areas in the city — Ramamurthynagar, Bellandur and Marathahalli — in October. According to the DCP, there are no cases against the immigrants as they are victims of human trafficking.
“We spoke to the agencies of West Bengal Police concerned and also the BSF. We are coordinating with the Karnataka Home Department and the Union Home Ministry,” said Sharanappa.
The train carrying the immigrants is scheduled to reach Kolkata around 3 pm on Saturday, after which they will be handed over to the West Bengal Police and BSF. Arrangements will then be made to deport them to their native country.
The Karnataka police had to move the Bangladeshis to the Puttaparthi Railway station of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh to board the train, as the South Western Railway zone could not provide a full coach to accommodate the police, from Bengaluru.
The deportation of the detained immigrants comes a day after the Karnataka High Court asked the state government to spell out its plan to detain illegal immigrants in the state in the event the countries they are being deported to do not accept them. A detention centre built in Nelamangala, around 40 km from Bengaluru, will be operational from January 2020, but in the absence of state-run detention centres, the state government has identified temporary areas where illegal immigrants will be detained.
The High Court was hearing a bail plea filed by an immigrant from Bangladesh, along with 14 other immigrants detained in August 2018 in Bengaluru.
With IANS inputs