After three long years Karamjit is now finally back with her parents in India. On 10th August 2009, Adv. Salma Ali, Executive Director, Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers’ Association handed her over to her parents in the presence of representatives from Indian Government’s Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in New Delhi, India.

In 2006 Karamjit was kidnapped from her home in Batala, Punjab by one Hena Begum and was brought to Norail, Bangladesh. She was only a little over one year old then. After bringing her to Bangladesh, Hena Begum pretended that Karamjit was her daughter. The local people, however, became suspicious and informed the Norail police. The Norail police rescued Karamjit and arrested Hena Begum. The local program officer of BNWLA came to know about the incident and went to the police station to inquire after the matter. Later after a series of investigations conducted by the organization it was found that Hena Begum was indeed a trafficker and a trafficking case was filed against her. On 8th October 2006 the Norail District Court gave her custody to BNWLA and she was placed in the BNWLA Dhaka shelter home.

Since 2006 Karamjit has been staying at the BNWLA shelter home where she has been receiving a number of supports including medical and psychosocial support. To identify her parents, BNWLA contacted the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and sought the help of their partner organization STOP in Delhi. Once her parents have been identified, BNWLA initiated the legal procedure for her repatriation and finally with the cooperation of Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh, Karamjit’s reintegration with her family was ensured by the organization.

The accused Hena Begum was convicted of trafficking and sentenced to lifetime imprisonment along with a fine of taka 20,000 and another three years imprisonment on default on 29th November 2007 under section 6(1) of Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000 (Amended 2003).

To ensure the safety of children like Karamjit, Adv Salma Ali on behalf of BNWLA has requested all parents and community members to be more aware and to show more care in bringing up their children.