DHAKA: The Bangladesh High Commission has agreed to repatriate 49 Bangladeshi women out of 172, who were rescued from various brothels and sheltered in various homes in India.

But the authorities imposed a condition, ‘leave your children back in India’. At least two women have fallen under the condition, according to midday report.

“I do not wish to go back to my country if they cannot accept my son,” fumes Naina (name changed), mother of a seven-month-old who is stuck in India as the Bangladesh High Commission has refused to accept her son as their national.

The 18-year-old was rescued from a prostitution den in Budhwarpeth, Pune, almost a year ago.

She was lured to Mumbai with the promise of opportunities to earn good money, and was sold to a brothel. After being rescued, Naina delivered a child at the Pune shelter home of Rescue Foundation when she was a minor. She cannot believe her own country wants to separate her from her baby.

“I do not want to go back to my country. In fact, it is not my country any more. I will bring up my baby here. My parents died when I was just three. I know the pain of growing up without parents. I cannot do that to my child,” she said.

Another woman stays in a Rescue Foundation home in Boisar.

“I want to meet the Embassy officials and convince them. I have been in touch with my family since I was rescued from the brothel. They have agreed to take me back. I cannot do without my baby even for a second. Even the thought of leaving her in some other country and going home to family is worse than a nightmare,” she says.

The babies were fathered by the clients of the girls, after they were pushed into prostitution. The fathers want to have nothing to do with the babies, but the mothers got attached to the children after they were born. The Bangladesh High Commission took a year and a half to clear repatriation for the 49 women.

After mid-day’s report highlighting bureaucratic delays, the High Commission approved travel permits for them.

Dilip Hirwale, the deputy commissioner of women and child development, confirmed this, stating, “We have received the clearance for around 50 girls. Most of them are sheltered in Rescue Foundation homes. The process of issuing travel permits will begin.”

There is, however, no joy for the two women; they are now, virtually, in limbo.

Neither can they stay India legally, nor can they come back home.

The Foundation is home to six girls who delivered babies in India. In all, more than a dozen women from the 172 rehabilitated have children born to Indian fathers.

Additionally, there are hundreds of Bangladeshis in Byculla jail and no count of how many women there who may be in such a condition.

BDST: 1648 HRS, OCT 13, 2014