The Uzbek woman, who was lodged in Bhopal jail for 10 months on charges of illegal entry into India, was released on Monday along with her baby daughter born in jail. However, the mother and daughter have not yet achieved complete freedom and would stay at the Bhopal Mahila Thana (women’s police station) till the arrangements for their travel to Uzbekistan are finalized.
The woman, Barno Djuraeva, 35, was in jail since January this year and the baby was born during her jail term. While Barno would be deported according to rules, the issue is about her daughter as she is born on Indian soil and would thus require either Indian passport or special documents to travel to Uzbekistan with her mother.
Sources told that the process of preparing travel documents for the baby is on and would be received soon. Till then, Barno would have to stay in Bhopal and probably under safeguard of local police.
Barno was arrested by Bhopal police in December 2015 was charged under Foreigners Act for illegal entry into the country and was sentenced to 10 months in prison on September 1.
However, she had already spent nine months in prison then and was thus released on Monday on completion of term. The arrest and subsequent trial of Barno in Bhopal had raised several questions of rights violation. The woman had herself approached the police claiming she was drugged and smuggled into India from Nepal and subsequently to Bhopal.
But she was charged with illegal entry while the man accompanying her was allowed to turn approver. She did not know English or Hindi and was yet not provided Uzbek translator and even the lawyer was provided very late. Also her family was not informed of her arrest.