Amritsar, April 8
The three children of a Pakistani woman, deserted by her Bangladeshi husband, who were reunited in an Amritsar jail on the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court are destined to languish there even though they have not committed any crime.
For their mother, Mumtaz, after being released on bail, now wants to marry a Hindu Bihari boy, a resident of Amritsar.
Earlier, while Mumtaz was lodged in the Central Jail, Amritsar, her son Sohail (8) was sent to Juvenile Home, Faridkot.
The other two children, 10-year-old Aisha and her six-year-old sister were sent to Nari Niketan, Jalandhar.
However, in February, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab Government to keep Mumtaz and her three minor children together at the Central Jail.
The petitioner had sought directions to the government to shift Mumtaz and her three children to one place, saying that it was inhumane to keep minor children away from their mother.
SSP-cum-Jail Superintendent Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh said jail authorities would provide all legal help and moral support to the children.
The hapless children said though they were being looked after properly in the jail, they were now feeling “orphaned” after the release of their mother.
“We want to meet our mother at the earliest,” they pleaded with folded hands and tears in their eyes.
The children today evinced keen interest in a cultural programme organised by the India Vision Foundation in association with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on the jail premises.
Mumtaz, originally hailing from Pakistan, had married Ibrahim some years ago. Three children were born from the marriage.
Around one and a half years ago, Ibrahim, who hailed from Bangladesh, took Mumtaz and his children to his native place in Bangladesh, only to desert them for another woman, with whom he left for Saudi Arabia.
He also took along their passport and other documents. Left with no choice, Mumtaz and her minor children managed to reach Amritsar, where they stayed, waiting for an opportunity to cross over to Pakistan.
However, the police caught them in January and booked them under the Foreigners’ Act for staying in India illegally. The boy and his two sisters, remanded separately in Faridkot and Jalandhar, were reunited with their mother in Amritsar jail after 24 days of their separation.
