Pregnant woman alleges harassment by immigration officials at Petrapole border with Bangladesh

Barasat: A pregnant woman claimed on Sunday immigration officials at the Petrapole border with Bangladesh made her wait for six hours before processing her immigration papers to allow her into India, police said. She said she fell sick due to the long wait under the sun. [caption id=“attachment_4193475” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty images[/caption] The woman and her husband filed a complaint alleging harassment by immigration officials on Saturday at the border check-post in North 24 Parganas district, police said. A police investigation into the incident is underway. She said she is a Bangladeshi citizen married to an Indian man for more than a year. They were returning to their home in Kolkata after visiting her parents in Bangladesh. The woman claimed an immigration official questioned her over one or two partly-torn pages in her passport, though she did not face a similar questioning on the Bangladesh side of the border. She said the officer questioned her how she had a Bangladeshi passport when her husband was an Indian citizen. “I requested the officer to allow me to leave owing to my condition but he paid no heed,” the woman claimed. Her husband said he contacted Petrapole police after she felt unwell. They later took her to a government hospital where she was provided medical assistance. After that, the couple returned to their Kolkata residence.