Bodies of Two Indian Nationals Lie in Jashore Morgue as Repatriation Stalls

The bodies of two Indian nationals are lying in the cold storage of Jashore General Hospital. Both died while held at Jashore Central Jail, and with no final decision yet from the foreign ministry, it remains uncertain whether their bodies will reach their families.

The first is Bachul Majhi, a resident of Kankrara village under Mejorganj police station in Chitamari district of India's Uttar Pradesh. He was detained on February 22, 2013, for illegally entering Bangladesh through the Ramgarhchhari border in Khagrachhari, and a court sentenced him to six months of simple imprisonment.

After serving his sentence, Bachul Majhi was transferred to Jashore Central Jail on November 20, 2018, to facilitate his repatriation. He remained in that jail for a long time, and while imprisoned he developed schizophrenia and several other complicated illnesses.

On October 9, when he suddenly developed chest pain, the jail authorities took him to Jashore General Hospital, where the on-duty doctor declared him dead. Nineteen days after his death, it is still unclear whether his family will receive his body.

The second body is that of Gazi Mondal, from Gandhina village under Marutia police station in Nadia district of West Bengal, India. He was serving a life sentence of rigorous imprisonment in an arms case at Jashore jail. On October 19 he fell ill in prison and was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Hospital superintendent Dr Husain Shafayat said the morgue has four cold-storage chambers, one of which has been out of order for a long time. Of the remaining three, two hold the bodies of the two Indian nationals, leaving the hospital struggling with a single free chamber.

Dr Husain Shafayat said the hospital has written to the jail authorities, requesting the government to arrange for the two bodies to be taken to India quickly.

Jashore Central Jail's jailer Abid Ahmed said a letter has been sent to the Prisons Directorate for handing over the bodies, and the directorate has contacted the relevant offices. The bodies can be handed over once permission arrives. He added that if the bodies stay in cold storage for long, the jail authorities will have to bear the rent.

These two are not the only ones: 45 more prisoners are waiting at Jashore Central Jail to return home alive, even though their sentences have ended. Most of them are elderly; among them are 7 women and 24 men over the age of fifty.

According to the jail authorities, these prisoners had sentences ranging from 15 days to two years, yet they have been serving 8 to 15 years. Even after becoming eligible for release, they cannot return because India has not approved their repatriation.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ashek Hasan said most of the prisoners have received repatriation approval from the Security Services Division of Bangladesh's home ministry. Their release is not possible because the Indian authorities have not given repatriation approval.

Senior Jashore lawyer and cultural activist Aminur Rahman Hiru said a person's right to a dignified funeral after death is linked to international human rights principles. Keeping two bodies in cold storage for so long is painful and worrying from a humanitarian perspective. Through quick coordination between the two countries, the bodies must either be handed over to the families or, with their consent, given a religious funeral locally.

Binoy Krishna Mallik, executive director of the human rights organisation Rights Jashore, said that however complex the legal and diplomatic process may be, such cases must be settled quickly on humanitarian grounds. The jail authorities said that about a year ago, preserving the body of another Indian prisoner cost around one lakh taka in cold-storage rent.