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A judicial magistrate in Ranaghat convicted Amina, detained in May 2025, under Section 14A of the Foreigners Act and sentenced her to six months in jail and a fine of 1,000 rupees

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A human rights group has written to India’s National Human Rights Commission alleging that a 20-year-old Rohingya refugee and her five-month-old baby are being held illegally at a prison in West Bengal after she completed a court-ordered sentence, reported Maktoob

Kirity Roy, secretary of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), said the woman, identified as Amina, has remained at Baharampur Central Correctional Home in Murshidabad district since May 2025, despite serving a six-month term for immigration-related offences under India’s Foreigners Act.

According to MASUM, Amina was arrested in May after allegedly being trafficked into India from Bangladesh, where she had been living in a UNHCR-registered refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Roy said she was a survivor of sexual violence and human trafficking and had given birth before being brought to India.

A judicial magistrate in Ranaghat convicted Amina under Section 14A of the Foreigners Act and sentenced her to six months in jail and a fine of 1,000 rupees, which the group said has been paid.

MASUM said Amina and her infant have now been held for about two months beyond the sentence period, calling the continued detention “illegal and unconstitutional.”

“The continued detention of a young mother and an infant after completion of sentence has no sanction of law,” Roy said, citing constitutional guarantees of equality before the law and the right to life and personal liberty.

The group has sought an inquiry, the immediate release of the woman and her child, and action against officials it alleges failed to implement the court’s order.