Dhaka, Aug 24: The Bangladesh High Court has asked the government to take a decision within four weeks on a request for political asylum by jailed Ulfa leader Anup Chetia and his two associates facing deportation after completing their sentences tomorrow. On a petition filed by a human rights group, the court yesterday directed the authorities to keep the three -- Chetia, Babul Sharma and Laxmiprasad Goswami -- in "safe" custody in prison until a decision on the asylum issue is taken, media reports here said.
Chetia and his associates, arrested in December 1997, will complete their jail terms tomorrow.
The three were charged with illegally staying in Bangladesh, possessing fake passports and unauthorised foreign currency.
The Bangladesh government has turned down Indian requests to extradite the three rebels.
Chetia had applied for political asylum in September 1998.
In her submission before the court on behalf of the Bangladesh Society for Enforcement of Human Rights, advocate Sigma Huda said that those who applied for asylum should not be sent to their countries against their will, vernacular newspaper 'The Jankantha' said in its report today.
Bureau Report