BNP leader Salahuddin gets travel pass, has to return to Bangladesh within 3 months

Former state minister and BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed, detained on charges of trespassing into India, received a travel permit or travel pass on Monday.  

According to the conditions of this travel pass, he has to return to Bangladesh within the next three months, Salahuddin told Prothom Alo over phone on Tuesday.

He said, the Bangladesh High Commission in Guwahati informed him about the travel pass on Monday and it reached his hands on Tuesday.

Earlier on 8 May, Salahuddin applied to the Indian state of Assam for permission to travel. He said in the application that he has been stuck in India since 2015. He has already been acquitted in the trespassing case against him.

Salahuddin Ahmed went "missing" on the night of 10 March 2015. At that time, his family alleged that he was picked up by law enforcement officials from Uttara sector-3 of the capital. However, the law enforcement agencies rejected the allegation.

After remaining missing for around two months, Salahuddin was found in Shillong, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya on 11 May 2015.

He was arrested for entering India without any valid documents. A case was filed against him under the Foreigners Act. Later, Shillong police pressed charges against him in the case.

The trial ended on 13 August 2018, after nearly three and a half years of litigation.

Earlier on 26 October 2018, the court of the first class judicial magistrate, DG Kharshiing, acquitted Salahuddin Ahmed in the case and asked the state government to take necessary steps for his immediate repatriation.

Later, the Indian government appealed against the verdict. However, the appeal was scrapped and the Appellate Division of the Shillong Judge Court of India, gave the verdict that there is no longer any obstacle for Salahuddin Ahmed to return to Bangladesh.