Solma's wait to end next week

After a long 19 months' time at an Indian shelter home, Bangladeshi citizen Solma Begum might be repatriated within the next week.

“We confirmed that Solma Begum is a Bangladeshi citizen. We are making arrangements for her repatriation shortly,” said BM Jamal Hossain, counsellor of Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, after he visited the shelter home in Hooghly yesterday.

The 39-year-old woman of Sundarganj in Gaibandha, who had psychological issues, went missing around four years back. The mother of three children, including two minors, was rescued by Hooghly police in India on April 4 last year and sent to the shelter home, Janasiksha Prochar Kendra.

A medical examination the next day confirmed her mental disorder.

After counselling and treatment for six months, she partly recovered and remembered that she was from Bangladesh. The shelter home authorities then contacted her relatives in Gaibandha.

Relatives sent copies of the national identity cards of Solma and her husband and photographs of other family members to the Janasiksha shelter home.

As the matter was communicated to Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata on May 25, it sent the documents to Bangladesh for verification of Solma's identity.

However, there was no response from this side.

The Daily Star ran a report on Solma's plight yesterday, which prompted an immediate measure from the Bangladesh mission. 

A delegation led by BM Jamal Hossain visited Solma at the shelter home in Hooghly. 

Jamal Hossain said they already had some documents of Solma and contacted her relatives in Gaibandha.

The authority will arrange Solma's repatriation in a week, he told The Daily Star, adding that her travel document would be issued today.

Hearing the news, Solma became emotional.

“I came to India with Golapi Begum, but she left me. I have been in the shelter home for 19 months but my heart is in Shorbananda village,” she said.

Her repatriation was uncertain, but now the issue is going to be solved due to the Bangladesh mission's prompt action, said Janasiksha Prochar Kendra Executive Director Abhishekh Mukherjee.